Russia’s defence minister has blamed Ukraine for the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet in July.

It comes after the Dutch Safety Board reported flight MH17 broke apart due to the impact of a large number of fragments.

Speaking at a press conference with his Malaysian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu said: “I’m sure that if Ukraine had solved its internal problems without the use of armed forces, without the bloodshed we’ve seen over the last few months…If they didn’t use heavy artillery, rocket artillery, helicopter fighters, then I’m sure this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.”

Hours after the Dutch Safety Board released its findings, the head of Ukraine’s crash investigation taskforce said the country did not have any weapons in its possession capable of
damaging or bringing down a plane.

The Dutch report suggest the plane was shot down from the ground but it does not assign any blame.

All 298 people on board were killed when the airliner came down in eastern Ukraine.