The OVV final report (October 2015) identifies detonation of a 9N314M warhead carried by a 9M38 Buk missile as the cause of MH17's destruction. Fragment analysis, damage pattern, and forensic examination of the wreckage are mutually consistent.

The Joint Investigation Team published findings in 2016 and 2019 tracing the specific Buk launcher to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. The launcher's transport route from Russia into Ukraine and back is documented through imagery, witness accounts, and intercepts.

Bellingcat and associated analysts independently traced the Buk launcher through social media photographs, satellite imagery, and transport documentation, reaching conclusions consistent with the JIT without access to classified intelligence. Independent corroboration strengthens the attribution finding.

The District Court of The Hague convicted Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko of murder and sentenced each to life imprisonment. The criminal standard — beyond reasonable doubt — was met on the evidentiary record. Russia declined to extradite any of them.

Russia's government advanced multiple successive alternative explanations: Ukrainian Buk, Ukrainian Su-25, different launcher vehicle, biased investigation. Each framing shifted as the preceding one was rebutted by forensic and open-source evidence. This pattern is consistent with denial rather than good-faith counter-evidence.

Distinctive bow-tie-shaped fragments characteristic of the 9N314M warhead were recovered from the wreckage and from the bodies of crew members in the cockpit area. The fragment pattern matches the Buk detonation point above and to the left of the cockpit, as modelled by the OVV.

In attempts to provide an alternative account, Russian defence ministry officials presented imagery that was subsequently identified as digitally manipulated or from incorrect dates. This was documented by open-source analysts and journalists and undermined Russia's counter-narrative credibility.

The JIT comprised investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine — five nations with different interests and perspectives. The multinational composition reduces the credibility of claims that the investigation was a single-nation political operation against Russia.

The Dutch Safety Board's October 2015 final report concluded that MH17 was struck by a 9N314M warhead carried by a Buk surface-to-air missile. Physical fragments recovered from the wreckage and crew remains were matched to the specific Buk warhead type. Radar data from multiple sources corroborated the missile's trajectory originating from territory held by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas.

Open-source investigative group Bellingcat conducted detailed social media and satellite image analysis tracing the specific Buk missile launcher — Buk TELAR 332 — from its base with Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Kursk, through Russian territory, into eastern Ukraine before the shootdown, and back to Russia the following day with one missile missing from the launcher.

In attempts to provide an alternative account, Russian defence ministry officials presented imagery that was subsequently identified as digitally manipulated or from incorrect dates. This was documented by open-source analysts and journalists and undermined Russia's counter-narrative credibility.

The Dutch Safety Board's October 2015 final report concluded that MH17 was struck by a 9N314M warhead carried by a Buk surface-to-air missile. Physical fragments recovered from the wreckage and crew remains were matched to the specific Buk warhead type. Radar data from multiple sources corroborated the missile's trajectory originating from territory held by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas.

Open-source investigative group Bellingcat conducted detailed social media and satellite image analysis tracing the specific Buk missile launcher — Buk TELAR 332 — from its base with Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Kursk, through Russian territory, into eastern Ukraine before the shootdown, and back to Russia the following day with one missile missing from the launcher.

The Joint Investigation Team — comprising investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine — indicted four individuals in June 2019: three Russian nationals including a former FSB colonel and one Ukrainian separatist commander. The JIT stated the Buk launcher had been transported from the 53rd Brigade and was operated by persons with ties to Russian military intelligence.

The OVV final report (October 2015) identifies detonation of a 9N314M warhead carried by a 9M38 Buk missile as the cause of MH17's destruction. Fragment analysis, damage pattern, and forensic examination of the wreckage are mutually consistent.

The Joint Investigation Team published findings in 2016 and 2019 tracing the specific Buk launcher to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. The launcher's transport route from Russia into Ukraine and back is documented through imagery, witness accounts, and intercepts.

Bellingcat and associated analysts independently traced the Buk launcher through social media photographs, satellite imagery, and transport documentation, reaching conclusions consistent with the JIT without access to classified intelligence. Independent corroboration strengthens the attribution finding.

The District Court of The Hague convicted Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko of murder and sentenced each to life imprisonment. The criminal standard — beyond reasonable doubt — was met on the evidentiary record. Russia declined to extradite any of them.

Russia's government advanced multiple successive alternative explanations: Ukrainian Buk, Ukrainian Su-25, different launcher vehicle, biased investigation. Each framing shifted as the preceding one was rebutted by forensic and open-source evidence. This pattern is consistent with denial rather than good-faith counter-evidence.

Distinctive bow-tie-shaped fragments characteristic of the 9N314M warhead were recovered from the wreckage and from the bodies of crew members in the cockpit area. The fragment pattern matches the Buk detonation point above and to the left of the cockpit, as modelled by the OVV.

The JIT comprised investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine — five nations with different interests and perspectives. The multinational composition reduces the credibility of claims that the investigation was a single-nation political operation against Russia.

Russian state media and the Ministry of Defence repeatedly advanced an alternative theory that a Ukrainian Su-25 ground attack aircraft shot down MH17. Aviation experts and the JIT investigators noted that the Su-25's service ceiling is approximately 7,000 metres while MH17 was cruising at 10,000 metres, making the intercept aerodynamically impossible. Radar data presented by Russia was found to contain manipulated timestamps.