Ukraine-Russia Row;

Ukraine-Russia Row Over Who 'Shot Down' Plane.

Nine Britons are among the 298 victims on board a passenger plane reportedly brought down by a surface-to-air missile.

Moscow has hit back after the Kiev government claimed pro-Russian separatists shot down a passenger plane, killing all 298 people on board, including 173 Dutch and nine Britons.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur at an altitude of 33,000ft (10,000m) when contact was lost on Thursday afternoon in eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Russia.

It came down near the village of Grabovo, Donetsk in an area where Ukrainian forces have been fighting the rebels.

An emergency worker at the scene of the crash

An adviser to Kiev's interior ministry said the Boeing 777 was hit by a Buk ground-to-air missile and its president Petro Poroshenko called it an "act of terrorism".

But the Russian defence ministry reportedly pointed the finger at its neighbour, saying it picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian Buk missile system south of Donetsk when the airliner came down.

Glenn Thomas was among the victims of the tragedy

Sky's Katie Stallard said: "That doesn't correlate with the geography. This was a plane flying over territory that the Ukrainian government would perceive as friendly. Territory that they control.

"It is a slightly counterintuitive suggestion that they would perceive that aircraft as a threat when it is heading away from their friendly airspace and towards the Russian border."

Flames rise from wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines jet

Separatist leader Alexander Borodai said Ukrainian government forces were responsible, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "The state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility."

However, a US official said Washington strongly suspected it was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired by rebels.

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