Ukraine official: Black box shows missile shrapnel downed

Malaysian flight MH17

Ukraine's government reported heavy fighting with pro-Russia rebels near the crash site of Malaysia
Airlines Flight 17 as Dutch and Australian forensic investigators were prevented from reaching the
site for the third consecutive day. Photo: AP
'Massive explosive decompression' ... A piece of engine wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
lies in a field in Grabovo, Ukraine. Photo: Rob Stothard/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
EVIDENCE from the black box of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 indicates that shrapnel from an
exploding missile ripped through the passenger jet, causing a "massive explosive decompression"
that led to the crash and death of 298 passengers and crew, a Ukrainian government official said.
Col. Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council, said he was
repeating information from the investigation commission that is studying the black box from the
Boeing 777 passenger jet.
If true, it would be the first solid evidence of what downed the aircraft.
The commission itself has not commented on its findings.
"This is real information, from the investigation," Lysenko said.
"We're not making this up."
Evidence ... A pro-Russian rebel touches the MH17 wreckage at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines
Flight 17 near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine. Pic: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda Source: AP
Despite the widespread assertion that a surface-to-air missile downed the aircraft, there has been
virtually nothing collected from the crash site that would help investigators piece together the
sequence of events that led to Flight 17's plunge to earth.
Lysenko said that ground investigators once again were unable on Monday to work inside the 25-
mile diameter area thought to contain the jet's wreckage, the condition of which would provide
important clues to what precisely happened.
MH17: Australian and Dutch police will attempt to access Malaysia Airlines site again after shelling
At a news conference in Kiev, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said a team of
Australian and Dutch investigators was on the ground and ready to carry out the investigation.
Flight 17's passengers and crew came from 11 nations, with the vast majority from the Netherlands.
There were 27 from Australia.
"We have promised our daughter we will come here." ... Jerzy Dyczynski and Angela Rudhart-
Dyczynski whose daughter, 25-year-old Fatima, was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17,
sit on part of the wreckage of the crashed aircraft in Hrabove, Ukraine. AP Photo/Nicholas Garriga
Source: AP
Bishop made it clear that the combined investigation team had no interest in getting involved in the
deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian security forces.
"We are here for one purpose, and this is to ensure that the site is secured, to enable us each day to
scour it for remains for those aboard MH17, and to commence the crash site investigation," she said.
"We don't want to be here for a moment longer than we have to be. We want to get onto the site, do
our work, and leave."
Lysenko said that the effort was again thwarted by fighting in the region. He said that Ukrainian
security forces have not engaged in fighting inside the crash area.
Wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 lies in the road in Petropavlivka, Ukraine. Photo: Rob
Stothard/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
But he alleged that pro-Russia separatists are thought to have been shooting inside the area in an
attempt to destroy evidence.
When asked if Ukrainian forces, which had moved near the crash area on Monday, were provoking
fighting in the area, he said they were taking great steps to avoid that.
"It's not a strategically important area," he said.
"The Ukrainian army has come close to the crash site, but they do not undertake any active military
actions."
He noted, however, that Ukrainian forces had scored a major strategic victory in the region south of
the crash site.
He said Ukrainian forces had taken the village of Debaltseve and a strategically important hilltop
known as Savur-Mohyla.
Clues? ... A piece of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 lies in a field in
Petropavlivka, Ukraine. Photo: Rob Stothard/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
In World War II, the Soviet recapture of Savur-Mohyla from the Nazis was seen as a turning point in
that fight.
Lysenko said the separatists had been using Savur-Mohyla to fire down on Ukrainian troops,
trapping them close to the Russian border. He said forces inside Russia also had been shelling the
Ukrainian positions, leaving the Ukrainians unable to respond.
"Our forces stood against that shelling without a single shot going into Russian territory," he said.
Retaking the hill allows the border guard to move inland and uphill, which Lysenko said he expects
will decrease any fire coming from Russia.
"Also, our troops have entered Shakhtarsk, Torez and Lutuhine," he added. Torez and Shakhtarsk
are near the crash site.
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