BUK missile which downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was brought from Kursk

 MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile – launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk, which was operating on Ukrainian territory in mid-July.

 The investigation unveiled a clear chain of evidences. MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile - launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit, tasked with protecting Russian tank units, was operating in mid-July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.

The report of the the Dutch air traffic authority OVV says the airplane was hit by a large number of "objects with high energy". These objects hit the airplane from above and the front at a high speed and with such a force that the rump broke apart in the air.

An expert who does not reveal his true identity says, "There is no doubt: flight MH17 was shot down by a missile. And this missile was fired from the ground and not from a fighter jet."

If it was a surface-to-air missile, the investigators say, it was a BUK M1, an airplane killer developed by the Soviets. There are no air defense systems located in rural areas of Ukraine.
The BUK M1 is highly mobile - and can shoot down airplanes at high altitudes with great precision. It can easily reach 15 kilometers of altitude, approaching its target at three times the speed of sound. The warhead contains 70 kilograms of explosives. Just before impact it explodes into thousands of pieces of sharp shrapnel - "objects with high energy".

Another significant point is that the BUK M1 system acquires its targets with an active radar: radar waves are transmitted into the sky, the enemy is acquired through the returning echo. But the active radar places the BUK team in danger. The pilot of the enemy fighter jet knows when he has been spotted.

However, the BUK's active radar cannot identify the type of airplane targeted. Fighter jet? Passenger plane? It is difficult for missile operators to tell. They can only determine whether a friend or foe is approaching. Friends are airplanes of their own air force. All other aircraft are enemies.

"The inherent poor design of the Soviet air defense system has had fatal consequences in the past. In 2001 a misfired BUK caused a catastrophe. The Ukrainian forces mistakenly shot down a Russian civilian plane near Crimea during a military exercise. All 78 passengers on board the Tupolev died. The Ukrainian Security Council admitted its forces shot down the plane and took action: the Ukraine mothballed all its BUKs for ten years," the investigators remind.