Buk Missile Component Recovered At MH17 Crash Site

The investigating team of MH17 airliner crash has found a component belonging to the Russian-made Buk missile at the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) published an image which shows a "Venturi", which emits propellant gases, like a car exhaust.

The JIT interim report explains the progress of the criminal inquiry. The experts are studying a mass of tiny fragments retrieved from the crash site.

The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed rebels fired the Buk missile which killed 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014.

However, Russia had argued that Ukrainian forces downed MH17. The Boeing 777, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in rebel-held territory.

But the JIT interim report says more technical and operational details about the missile are needed.

Last year, a Dutch Safety Board report concluded that MH17 was downed by a Russian-made Buk, but did not say who fired it. Board president Djibbe Joustra said at the time that the rebels were in charge of the area from which it was fired.