The Malaysian passenger plane that went down over eastern Ukraine last year was downed by a Russian-developed Buk missile, the Dutch Safety Board said in a long-awaited report.
The surface-to-air missile detonated outside the left side of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 cockpit and caused other parts of the Boeing 777 to break off, according to the report released Tuesday.
The report does not say who fired the missile that brought down the plane but suggests the plane should not have been flying in the area due to the risk from armed conflict there.
The U.S. has blamed Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine for the downing in July 2014 of the jetliner en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which Russia has denied. All 298 people aboard the plane died.
Investigators said they were unable to establish when exactly those aboard the flight died, saying the impact on the ground was “non-survivable.”
“It cannot be ruled out that some occupants remained conscious for some time during the one to one and a half minutes for which the crash lasted,” the report said.
The downing of the passenger jet last year added to renewed tension between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and sovereignty in Europe.
The White House on Tuesday called the report “an important milestone in the effort to hold accountable those responsible for the shoot-down of the aircraft and the killing of those aboard.”
“Our assessment is unchanged — MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine,” national security council spokesman Ned Price said.
“The victims and their loved ones remain in our thoughts and prayers,” Price added.
This story was updated at 9:55 a.m.