Is this proof that MH17 change course into a war zone? A route map compiled by Twitter user Vagelis Karmiros using data from flight-tracking website Flightaware claims to show how the doomed Malaysia Airlines plane took a different flightpath to the ones taken by the previous ten MH17 flights
Dr Igor Sutyagin, Research Fellow in Russian Studies from the Royal United Services Institute, believes that MH17 was shot down by rebels based in the 3rd District of Torez, in eastern Ukraine, after mistaking his plane for a government military transport aircraft.
He told MailOnline that information had been leaked from a source he was unwilling to name that the pilot of MH17 'felt bad' about his course over Ukrainian airspace, so changed direction.
Little did he know, according to Dr Sutyagin, that his plane would then be mistaken by rebels who brought it down using a ground-to-air Buk missile system. Malaysia Airlines today denied that the plane was told to alter its course.
His comments come as Vladimir Putin called for a ceasefire by pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces to allow for negotiations.
Dr Sutyagin's theory appears to be supported by a route map which shows the passenger plane travelling on a different course to the ones taken by the previous ten MH17 flights.
Twitter user Vagelis Karmiros collated the information from Flightaware, the largest flight tracking website in the world.
He said: 'There is a Ukrainian mechanised brigade blocked by separatists near the Russian border.
'It's blocked on three sides by separatists and behind the brigade is the Russian boarder, so they can't get out. The Ukrainians try to resupply them from the air by transport aircraft.
'Now, the pilot of MH17 said that he "felt bad" and wanted to change course south to get out of the danger zone. But several kilometers to the south is a Ukrainian Army heavy transport plane, an IL76, or Candid, which has the same echo as a 777 on a radar screen.
'The two planes came close. They tried to shoot down the transport delivering supplies to the brigade. They believed that they had been firing at a military plane, but they mistakenly shoot down a civilian airliner.'
His comments came as Malaysia Airlines said it filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000 feet through Ukraine airspace but was instructed by Ukraine air traffic control to fly at 33,000. It would still have been in range of the missile were it flying at the higher altitude however.
Rescue workers, police and even coal miners are today combing the site where a Malaysian Airlines jet crashed after being shot from the sky by a surface-to-air missile, scattering wreckage and bodies across the Ukrainian countryside.
Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 people on board, while the Russian media today blamed everyone but pro-Moscow rebels for the Malaysia Airlines horror.
One theory explored by TV and newspapers was that the Ukrainian armed forces may have shot the Boeing out of the sky after mistaking it for Vladimir Putin's official Ilyushin jet.
The Kremlin leader was flying back to Moscow from Brazil at around the same time that the Boeing 777 was downed, stated TV and newspaper reports.
Evidence for the theory seems scant, but an anonymous source in Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transportation was quoted saying that there was a crossover flight path between the doomed Malaysian aircraft and Russian plane 'number one' used by Putin.
A source at the agency was quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper as saying: 'Vladimir Putin's plane could have been a target for a Ukrainian missile.'
NTV cited a source from the same body as saying: 'I can say that the routes of plane Number One and the Malaysian Boeing crossed at the same point and on the same altitude.
'It was near Warsaw at altitude 10,100 metres, echelon 330. The plane Number One was at that point at 16.21 Moscow time, the Malaysian plane was there at 15.44 Moscow time.'
The source also said that the 'plane' contours are similar in principle, the real sizes are also similar, and 'as for their liveries then at the distance they are almost identical'.
Putin's equivalent of Air Force One is a specially modified Ilyushin, the Il-96 300. It is a four-engine long distance aircraft, with a length of 55 metres, and a wingspan of 60 metres.
The Boeing 777-200 is 63 metres long, and its wingspan 61 metres.
Asked last night on the route of Putin's plane, agency head Alexander Neradko said: 'We never comment on the routes and other details of the flights of the president of Russia.'
Earlier, Ukrainian government official Anton Gerashchenko accused Mr Putin of 'a desperate attempt to hide the consequences of his deeds' by permitting the smuggling of the Buk rocket launcher - suspected of being used to shoot down the Boeing - across the frontier into Russia.
An effort during the night was made 'to hide the Buk rocket complex on Russian territory', he alleged.
He did not say if it was known whether or not it had moved into Russia.
'It is most likely that the machinery which fired the missiles at Malaysian aircraft will be destroyed and the people who committed the act of terror will be annihilated,' warned Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Interior Ministry in Kiev.
Comment: The same could be said if the Buk was used by Kiev.
'Several hours ago, Putin made a statement in regard the catastrophic crash of the Malaysian Boeing in which he blamed it all on Ukrainian side. What else is there to be done for an international terrorist? Only lie.'
Meanwhile, Pro-Kremlin Izvestia cited separatists claiming the shooting out of the sky was 'a planned provocation by Kiev'.
'Judge for yourself, who could have done it? The rebels don't have weapons that you could use to shoot down a plane at such a height, but Kiev does,' one local leader told the paper.
Tabloid Tvoi Den splashed a full-page cover photograph of the crash scene with a line reading: 'Donetsk People's Republic Authorities Claim Plane Destroyed by Ukrainian Buk Missile,' an anti-aircraft system.
Rebel official Sergei Kavtaradze was quoted saying: 'According to our information, this plane was shot down by Ukrainian armed forces.'
Other media claimed it could have been a Ukrainian plot to give the Americans an excuse to deploy NATO on the ground in the eastern European country.
But a Ukrainian military expert, Igor Levchenko, told Kommersant business daily that although Kiev did have several Buks in the conflict zone, they 'definitely would not be used against such a target as a passenger liner.'
Comment: Unless they wanted to frame Russia or the separatists, that is.
Turning some of the blame towards the aviation industry, the same paper cited aviation sources saying it was 'reckless' to allow passenger flights over the region.
Government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta said: 'It remains unclear how a Boeing 777 came to be above a conflict zone and why air traffic controllers didn't prevent a potentially dangerous situation.
Malaysia's transport minister today insisted there were no last-minute instructions to the pilots of MH17 before it took off.
© AFP/Getty ImagesBodies lie strewn among the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 a day after it was shot down over pro-Russian rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine
He said: 'Our sympathies are with those affected by this tragedy. There were 298 passengers and crew. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families at this incredibly difficult time for them.'
Mr Lai reiterated that the plane had 'a clean bill of health' and all its systems were functioning normally.
The route taken over Ukraine was one approved by the International Civil Aviation Authority and by the International Air Transport Association.
He went on: 'There were no last-minute instructions given to the pilots to change the route. In the hours before the incident, a number of airlines used this route.'
Mr Lai said that of the 41 passengers whose nationalities were initially unknown, 21 had now been identified.
Listing the nationalities, he confirmed that nine UK passengers were among those lost.
He added that the full passenger manifesto would be released once all next of kin had been informed.
Mr Lai called for the crash site to be preserved, adding that Malaysia was sending a dozens-strong team to Ukraine, which would include 15 medical staff.
Malaysia Airlines is also sending 40 staff to Amsterdam to support families there.
Speaking at a media conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Lai said Ukraine would start the investigation into the crash and he supported a call for an international investigation.
The Duke of Cambridge spoke today of his 'deep sadness' over the Ukraine plane disaster.
Speaking at an event at Australia House in London to remember a British explorer, William said words 'cannot do justice to our sense of loss'.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine was 'an absolutely appalling, shocking, horrific incident' and said his thoughts were with the families of those killed.
Mr Cameron said: 'If, as seems possible, this was brought down, then those responsible must be held to account and we must lose no time in doing that.'
Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners spread out Friday across the sunflower fields and villages of eastern Ukraine, searching the wreckage of a jetliner shot down as it flew miles above the country's battlefield.
By midday, 181 bodies had been located, according to emergency workers in contact with officials in Kiev.
Malaysia Airlines said the passengers included 189 Dutch, 29 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, nine Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one person each from Canada and New Zealand.
Still Nataliya Bystro, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's emergency services, said rebel militiamen were interfering with the recovery operation.
Separatist rebels who control the crash site issued conflicting reports Friday about whether they had found the plane's black boxes or not.
'No black boxes have been found... we hope that experts will track them down and create a picture of what has happened,' said Donetsk separatist leader Aleksandr Borodai.
Yet earlier Friday, an aide to the military leader of Borodai's group said authorities had recovered eight out of 12 recording devices.
Since planes usually have two black boxes - one for recording flight data and the other for recording cockpit voices - it was not clear what the number 12 referred to.
Large chunks of the Boeing 777 that bore the airline's red, white and blue markings lay strewn over a field.
The cockpit and one of the turbines lay more than half a mile (1km) apart and residents said the tail landed about six miles (10km) away, indicating that the aircraft probably broke up before hitting the ground.
Shocking new accounts of the carnage emerged today.
'The plane broke up in the air and the parts and human bodies are lying within a three-kilometre area,' said a post by Vsevolod Petrovsky after visiting the scene.
'One body broke a hole in the thin roof of a summer terrace in a private house. I got out of the car and immediately saw the naked body of a woman, covered by some leaves.
'There were many bodies without clothes around. Probably, their clothing was torn away after the loss of pressurisation. Horrible.
'I go further and see a hill made of the cockpit parts. The area is lit. The pilot's body is in this seat, with seat belt fastened, he is dressed in his clothes.
'Among the plane parts there were many parcels. Letters tied with a rope, books, old vinyl records, somebody's shoes. Children's caps with the Dutch national flag colours. Amazingly, almost all of these things are not destroyed.
'There was no fire in this part of the plane. The fire was in the back part which is lying not far from Grabovo village.'
A local farmer said: 'I was herding my cows and heard a buzzing noise. I lay on the ground and thinking only that it would not hit me and my cows.
'Then I looked and saw that something turns sharply and two big wings were flying. Bang. And something explodes. It came from eastern side, from the side of Sokholikha mountain.'
American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down but are still working on who fired the missile and whether it came from the Russian or Ukrainian side of the border, a U.S. official said.
Malaysia's prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down and that the flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
More than half of the passengers on board - 154 - were Dutch citizens, with 43 from Malaysia, including the 15 crew members.
Another 27 were Australians, 12 from Indonesia, and nine Britons. The victims included three infants.
Earlier it was feared that 23 Americans had perished based on a Reuters report, but there has been no confirmation of any U.S. deaths since then from the State Department.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it an 'act of terrorism' and demanded an international investigation. He insisted his forces did not shoot down the plane.
U.S. Senator John McCain said there 'would be hell to pay' if the plane was shot down by the Russian military or separatists.
Earlier this week, the rebels claimed responsibility for shooting down two Ukrainian military planes.
In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of those on board the jet gathered at the international airport.
A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to visit the family for the first time in five years.
'She called me just before she boarded the plane and said, "See you soon",' she said.
Counsellors were meeting with a few family members in the airport viewing gallery, sealed off from a horde of journalists. One woman emerged in tears and was escorted out of the airport by a security officer without saying anything.
'This is just too much,' said Cindy Tan, who was waiting at the airport for a friend on another flight.
'I don't know really why this happened to a MAS (Malaysia Airlines) plane again.'
Ukraine's security services produced what they said were two intercepted telephone conversations that showed rebels were responsible.
In the second, two rebel fighters - one of them at the crash scene - say the rocket attack was carried out by a unit of insurgents about 15 miles (25km) north of the site.
Neither recording could be independently verified.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Sergey Kavtaradze, a special representative of the Donetsk People's Republic leader, as denying that the intercepted phone conversations were genuine.
WHY WAS FLIGHT MH17 FLYING THROUGH A WARZONE IN THE FIRST PLACE?The airspace Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was flying in when it was shot down was not restricted, but airlines had been warned about the potential dangers, it has emerged.Map to show that there are no planes flying over Ukraine 17/07/14
The International Transport Association said that an initial assessment revealed that the airspace the aircraft was traveling through was 'not subject to restrictions'.
However, it emerged on Thursday that the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 was flying just 300 meters above restricted airspace when it shot down
Previous to this Ukrainian authorities had barred aircraft from ground level to 32,000 feet but the downed plane was cruising at 33,000 feet, within range of ground-to-air missiles, when it was hit.
Indeed, speculation exists that the aircraft may have taken a short-cut across the disputed region of eastern Ukraine to save itself fuel.
On Monday, Eurocontrol - the body that coordinates all traffic across European airspace - sent out an official note to airmen, known as a Notam, repeating the warning and saying it 'strongly advises' avoiding the airspace.
But many carriers continued to use the route because it was shorter and therefore cheaper.
On July 8, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian aircraft after rebels shot a military transport aircraft that was flying over 20,000 feet.
The restriction warned commercial aircraft against using Ukrainian airspace.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the crash a 'terrible tragedy' and spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Mr Poroshenko. Britain called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine.
Later, Mr Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, but he did not address the question of who might have shot it down and did not accuse Ukraine of doing so.
'This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine,' he said, according to a Kremlin statement issued early today.
'And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.'
At the United Nations, Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev told the AP that Russia gave the separatists a sophisticated missile system and thus Moscow bears responsibility, along with the rebels.
๏ปฟDESIGNED TO PROVIDE AIR DEFENCE FOR TROOPS FACING ATTACK: WHAT IS A BUK MISSILE LAUNCHER?
The BUK missile system is a set of medium range surface-to-air missile systems which were first developed in the Soviet Union and continue to be produced by Russia.
Designed to take out cruise missiles, aircrafts, helicopters and short range ballistic missiles, they can reach altitudes of up to 15.5miles, according to the manufacturer's website.
Developed by Moscow firm Almaz-Antey, they are thought to have been used during the Russian war with Georgia in the territory of South Ossetia in 2008.
The manufacturer's website, which also lists military equipment including radar and naval missile systems, displays two models of Buk launchers - the Buk-M1-2 and the Buk-M2E.
A description of the Buk-M1-2, which has an altitude target range of up to 25km (15.5 miles or 82,000ft), reads: 'The "Buk-M1-2" ADMC is designed to provide air defence for troops and facilities against attacks from current and future high-speed manoeuvring tactical and strategic aircraft, attack helicopters including hovering helicopters, and tactical ballistic, cruise, and air-to-air missiles, in conditions of heavy radio jamming and counter fire; as well as to destroy water and ground surface targets.'
Meanwhile, the Buk-M2E 'is designed to destroy tactical and strategic aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and other aerodynamic aircraft at any point in their range of operation, along with tactical ballistic and aircraft missiles, and smart air bombs in conditions of heavy enemy counter fire and radio jamming; as well as to attack water and ground surface contrast targets.'๏ปฟ
Powerful: The BUK surface-to-air missile system (like this one) that is believed to have shot down flight MH17 is an old Soviet-built weapon designed to engage light aircraft, cruise missiles and drones
'As things stand, this looks less like an accident than a crime. And if so, the perpetrators must be brought to justice,' he said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was 'horrified' by the crash, and the United States was prepared to help with an international investigation.
Ukraine's crisis began after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was driven from office in February by a protest movement among citizens angry about endemic corruption and seeking closer ties with the European Union.
Russia later annexed the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine, and pro-Russians in the country's eastern regions began occupying government buildings and pressing for independence. Moscow denies Western charges that it is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest.
Kenneth Quinn, of the Flight Safety Foundation, said an international coalition of countries should lead the investigation.
Safety experts say they are concerned that, because the plane crashed in area of Ukraine that is in dispute, political considerations could affect the investigation.
The RIA-Novosti agency quoted rebel leader Alexander Borodai as saying that talks were under way with Ukrainian authorities on calling a short truce for humanitarian reasons. He said international organisations would be allowed into the conflict-plagued region.
Aviation authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United States, had issued warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine prior to yesterday's crash, but many carriers, including cash-strapped Malaysia Airlines, had continued to use the route because 'it is a shorter route, which means less fuel and therefore less money,' said aviation expert Norman Shanks.
HIJACKINGS, CRASHES AND UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: A TIMELINE OF OTHER DISASTERS TO HIT MALAYSIA AIRLINESWithin hours of the tragedy, several airlines said they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace.
December, 4 1977 - Flight MH653 was hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, killing all 100 people on board.
September 15, 1995 - Flight MH2133 touched down too far along the runway at Tawau Airport, Sabah, killing 32 passengers and two crew members.
March 15, 2000 - Flight MH85, travelling to Kuala Lumpur to Beijin, was damaged by the chemical oxalyl chloride, which leaked from canisters during unloading. The Airbus A330-300 was sufficiently damaged to be written-off.
March 8, 2014 - Fight MH370, carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers, went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport.
The Boeing 777 has still yet to be found, despite months of extensive searches in the southern Indian Ocean where it was believed to have crashed. The next phase of the search is expected to start in August and take a year, covering some 60,000 sq km at a cost of AU$60 million ($56 million) or more.
March 24, 2014 - Flight MH066, travelling from Kuala Lumper to Incheon, South Korea, was forced to make an emergency landing in Hong Kong after its main electricity generator failed.
Passengers onboard the flight later revealed they were told to prepare for an emergency water landing. However, the plane landed safely in Hong Kong in the early hours of the morning.
April 21, 2014 - Flight MH192, carrying 166 people, was forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur while flying to India after a tyre burst and the right-hand landing gear malfunctioned. Police later confirmed an investigation had begun into whether the flight had been interfered with before take-off.
April 24, 2014 - A plane belonging to Firefly Airlines (a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines) was forced to return to Penang after suffering problems with its landing gear.
A statement on the company's website said: 'This was because the aircraft's landing gear was unable to retract after being airborne. As safety is of utmost priority to Firefly Airlines, the aircraft was required to turn back to Penang.'
July 17, 2014 - Flight MH17 was shot down on the Russian-Ukraine border, killing all 295 people on board.
A U.S. official said American intelligence authorities believe the plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile but are still working to determine additional details about the crash, including who fired the missile and whether it came from the Russian or Ukraine side of the border.
But American intelligence assessments suggest it is more likely pro-Russian separatists or the Russians rather than Ukrainian government forces shot down the plane, according to the official.
The United States has sophisticated technologies which can detect missile launches, including the identification of heat from the rocket engine.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at about 33,000ft (10,000m) when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 72,000ft (22,000m). He said only that his information was based on 'intelligence'.
Igor Sutyagin, a research fellow in Russian studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said both Ukrainian and Russian forces have SA-17 missile systems - also known as Buk ground-to-air launcher systems.
Rebels had recently bragged about having acquired Buk systems.
Mr Sutyagin said Russia had supplied separatists with military hardware but had seen no evidence 'of the transfer of that type of system from Russia'.
Earlier yesterday, AP journalists saw a launcher that looked like a Buk missile system near the eastern town of Snizhne, which is held by the rebels.
Mr Poroshenko said his country's armed forces did not shoot at any airborne targets.
Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told the Associated Press news agency he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down, but gave no explanation or proof.
There have been several disputes over planes being shot down over eastern Ukraine in recent days.
A Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down on Wednesday by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the insurgents.
Pro-Russia rebels claimed responsibility for strikes on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets on Wednesday. Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile but the pilot landed safely.
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