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Subscribe to weekly newsletter The Russia Report for just £45/year: https://t.co/rHLUAQfgZX Author: Sarah Hurst. Based in the UK.

Jun 8, 2021, 60 tweets

There's no question that MH17 was shot down by a Buk missile. Comparison parts being shown now at the trial in The Hague.

A fragment of the missile that hit MH17 compared with an intact missile.

Another comparison.

The missile was identified as a Buk 9M38M1, not a 9M38. An incredible level of detail.

Another example of how the specific type of Buk was identified.

MH17 as it looks now.

A lunch break until 12:55, after which metal parts found in bodies will be discussed.

Metal fragments were found in the bodies of the crew.

About 100 fragments were found in the body of the captain during the post-mortem, including some in bowtie form.

Pieces of melted steel were found in clothes in luggage. They came from a missile that exploded outside the aircraft.

Metal fragments were found in flight documents on board the plane.

Cockpit wreckage was examined and "non-aircraft material" was collected.

Going through non-aircraft fragments.

Documenting non-aircraft fragments.

The left wing of the plane.

The presiding judge is now taking apart Russian claims that MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet. There was no indication of the sound of a fighter jet or an air to air missile on the cockpit voice recorder.

He refers to manipulated satellite images allegedly showing a Ukrainian jet presented by the Russian government, and their invented character "Carlos the air traffic controller". He was someone who lived in Romania and had been sentenced in Spain for fraud. He was paid by Russia.

Russia also presented two identical witness statements from different people claiming there was a Ukrainian jet - and then said these were the same person.

The court is also not going to consider the Russian scenario that Ukrainian armed forces shot down the plane with a Buk.

Investigators concluded that any scenarios other than the Russian Buk are "implausible".

Radar data show there were no military aircraft or unidentified aircraft or objects near MH17 at the time it was downed, the presiding judge says.

Nor did the MH17 crew mention another unknown aircraft to air traffic controllers.

The cockpit voice recorder suddenly stopped at 13:20:03. There was no indication up until then of anything abnormal.

Now another judge is going to talk about the firing location.

What firing a Buk looks like.

12 witnesses say they saw a smoke trail and eight say they saw a missile, the judge says.

Other witnesses heard a loud bang just before the aircraft crashed - the noise of the missile being launched.

A witness says he was at a checkpoint near Pervomaiske. He saw a vehicle driving with the missiles on it, heard the launch, saw the aircraft crashing and saw people trying to extinguish the fire with branches.

He also said that after the explosion there was a missile missing on the Buk TELAR.

The witness marked the location of the Buk's launch site.

Another witness marked the launch site.

Another witness was a volunteer who came from Russia to fight Ukrainians. He marked the location of the launch site on a satellite image.

He saw the missile launched, leaving a smoke trail, and said it detonated near the cockpit of an aircraft after about 20 seconds.

He was very surprised that the aircraft was being fired at.

He drew a map.

After the Buk drove away he walked to the field where it had been and saw the grass was scorched. People were cheerful initially, thinking a Ukrainian transport plane had been shot down (as happened a month earlier), but then they were upset when they found out what happened.

The volunteer's group hurriedly made preparations to return to Donetsk.

Investigators talked to the person who took this picture of the Buk's smoke trail and a black smoke plume.

They also took this picture.

The aftermath of the crash now being shown in a video.

Dutch researchers analysed the location of the landmarks near the smoke plume from the missile launch.

The path of the smoke trail superimposed on a map.

Another smoke trail photo from the Russian social media platform VKontakte.

Using the smoke trail to trace the launch site.

The launch site and MH17 projected onto it.

Roland Oliphant from The Telegraph made a video at the likely launch site.

Journalist Christopher Miller posted this picture of the scorched field.

The US embassy in Kyiv published this a few days after the event.

The launch site on July 16 and on July 21, 2014. MH17 was shot down on July 17.

There's no reason why a farmer would intentionally burn this part of their land.

Three months later there's less vegetation in that area.

The tracks of the TELAR are more than three metres wide, while those of normal agricultural vehicles are no more than 2.5 metres.

There are marks where a witness said there was a tent.

Before and after the Buk's arrival and launch.

A former Buk commander who was questioned said the TELAR must be 100-150 metres from trees and there can be no electricity cables in the area.

Only one of the absent defendants, Oleg Pulatov, is represented by lawyers - seen here.

The launch site is the highest point within 5 km.

The Buk was presumably brought in from Russia to try it out on a Ukrainian military plane. But its operators were so eager that they fired at the first civilian plane that flew over.

And a video of the Buk TELAR moving near the launch site is shown.

The court ends the session and will resume tomorrow at 10 am.

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