Rebels in eastern Ukraine publish eyewitness testimonies claiming MH17 wasn’t alone in the sky

Officials from the Donetsk People’s Republic have published reports supposedly detailing eyewitness accounts of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers in eastern Ukraine a year ago today. Scanned copies of these testimonies, as well as several photographs, have been uploaded to the Donetsk News Agency’s website (which has been inaccessible at times today).

Donetsk separatists have also reportedly made public the findings of their medical and forensic examination and crash inspection. (These documents don’t currently exist on Donetsk News Agency’s website, however.)

According to the separatists’ report, eyewitnesses heard the jet-engine sounds of a second aircraft, and one bystander claims to have seen a gray-colored plane in the sky.

Spokesmen for the Donetsk People’s Republic say the eyewitness accounts confirm their claims that a Ukrainian fighter jet is responsible for shooting down MH17.

Russian federal investigators have stated that MH17 was hit by an air-to-air missile fired from a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet. In June 2015, Russian officials named Ukrainian citizen and aviation mechanic Evgeniy Agapov as their primary witness in the MH17 crash case. He allegedly saw a Ukrainian jet depart for a combat mission on the day of the crash. According to Agapov, the jet returned after its ammunition had been emptied.

The final results of the Dutch-led investigation into the crash have not yet been disclosed, but earlier media reports claimed that missile fragments matching Russian-made Buk M1-2 warheads were found at the crash site. The Russian Ministry of Defense and Russia’s air-defense systems manufacturer Almaz-Antei have refuted these claims.

The final report by Dutch investigators isn’t expected until October 2015, but the news network CNN has already leaked some of the main findings, which place responsibility for the incident on eastern Ukraine’s separatists.