The Dutch Safety Board is to publish a final report on why Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 broke up over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 on board. Preliminary findings say it was hit by “high-energy objects from outside the aircraft”, fuelling speculation that a surface-to-air missile was responsible. The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed rebels brought down the Boeing 777. But Russia claims the missile was fired from Ukrainian-controlled territory. The report will not apportion blame. The plane – flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur – crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 at the height of the conflict between government troops and the pro-Russian separatists. Among the victims were 196 Dutch nationals and 10 Britons. The Dutch Safety Board is first presenting its findings first to the victims’ relatives and then to reporters at the Gilze-Rijen military base in the Netherlands. The board will also show parts of the aircraft that have been brought back from the rebel-held Donetsk region and reconstructed. –bbc.com
