RIA Novosti: EC Unsure Why US Believes Missile Shot Down Malaysian Plane in Ukraine – Source

BRUSSELS, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – The European Commission does not know on what basis the United States concluded that a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane, which crashed in eastern Ukraine, was shot down by a missile, a source in the EC told RIA Novosti on Friday.

“One must ask them. The European Commission does not have the data of where the US got the information that was reproduced by mass media,” the EC representative said.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, causing death of all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

Citing US intelligence agencies, Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday that the flight MH17 had been brought down by a missile.

According to the newspaper, intelligence agencies had said witnesses reported a plume of smoke rising over the crash site. They did not comment on whether the missile was launched by the Kiev-backed troops or independence supporters in the region, but said it was a surface-to-air missile.

Kiev blamed independence supporters in the turbulent Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. Militia forces said they had no missile systems that could hit a target flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters.