Wreckage is pictured near a pro-Russian separatist checkpoint (reuters)
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Tuesday that preliminary findings by Dutch investigators into the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July suggested a missile downed the plane.
The crash over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine killed 298 people, two thirds of them from the Netherlands.
Dutch investigators said earlier Tuesday they had concluded that objects from outside the aircraft caused the crash, but did not mention a missile.
"The preliminary report suggests that high energy objects penetrated the aircraft and led it to break up midair," Najib said in a statement.
"This leads to the strong suspicion that a surface to air missile brought MH17 down, but further investigative work is needed before we can be certain," he added.
© Thomson Reuters 2014