View gallery Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, presents the final report into the crash of July … 
 
 And while the report did not specify whether it was under the control of pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces, the board's chairman Joustra later seemed to suggest it was. The missile hit the front left of the plane causing other parts to break off, it said in a final report into the July 2014 disaster, which killed 298 people. Issuing the long-awaited findings of its investigation into the crash of a Malaysian passenger plane over eastern Ukraine, the Dutch Safety Board says it was downed by a Russian-made Buk missile but does not say who was responsible for firing it. The much-anticipated report also said it was possible that some on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur may have remained conscious during the 90 seconds it took to crash. View gallery College students gather around candles forming the shape of an airplane, during a candlelight vigil … 
 
 "There was sufficient reason for the Ukrainian authorities to close the air space above the eastern part of their country," Joustra said. - Conspiracy theories - 
 
 The White House, which has long accused pro-Russian rebels of being behind the attack, said its "assessment is unchanged -- MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine." But Russia, Ukraine and Western nations all seized the moment to step up accusations that the fault for the tragedy lay at someone else's door. Warhead discrepancy 
 
 In the report, the Dutch Safety Board says the weapon used was a 9N314M-model warhead carried on the 9M38M1 missile, as installed on the Buk surface-to-air missile system. In official reaction on Tuesday: 
 
 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged Russia to co-operate in the investigation, saying "the priority now is to find and pursue those who are responsible" 
 
 Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says he had "no doubt" that the crash was "a planned operation of the Russian special services" 
 
 The White House said the US would "fully support all efforts to bring to justice those responsible" 
 
 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called the Dutch crash investigation "biased in nature" and said Russia was "ready to present its own information" 
 
 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said his government's "commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice remains as strong as it was on that fateful day 17 July 2014" 
 
 Eduard Basurin, deputy defence minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine, said rebel forces "did not have a Buk anti-air defence system at that time". Tuesday's findings were swiftly dismissed by the missile maker Almaz-Antey, which said its tests showed the jet being likely shot down by an outdated version of the BUK missile no longer used by Russia.
– A Dutch report on the MH17 crash concludes the plane was shot down by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile that struck the front left side of the plane near the cockpit, Dutch Safety Board Chairman Tjibbe Joustra said at a press conference on Tuesday. The report, the result of a 15-month-long investigation, notes the explosion sent thousands of metal objects in all directions and hundreds hit the plane with "tremendous force," Joustra said, per the Guardian. He added shrapnel from the Buk missile was found inside the bodies of the pilots, who died instantly, along with traces of paint from a Buk missile. The BBC's Anna Holligan, who spoke to relatives briefed on the report, says all passengers and crew would've lost consciousness immediately as the plane broke apart in the air. A 65-foot reconstruction of a portion of the plane, revealed at the press conference, showed holes perforating the upper part of the cockpit, according to reporter Luke Harding. "We can't be 100% sure" that no one suffered, "but we've got to sort of think that was the case," a relative says. The report mainly focuses on the cause of the crash and avoids "blame and culpability"; a separate criminal investigation will point fingers, reports AFP. The report at least rejects Moscow's claim that the Boeing 777 was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian troops on July 17, 2014, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. But about 30 minutes before the report's release, Moscow had dismissed it. "It's always special when people already know that they don't agree with a report that's not even published yet," Joustra said.