A Malaysian airliner flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, which has seen heavy fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists. A Ukrainian interior ministry official, Anton Gerashchenko, said the airliner, was hit by a ground-to-air missile. The plane, a Boeing 777, was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members.
Malaysian Airliner Crashes in Eastern Ukraine
![People bring flowers and candles to the Dutch embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, to commemorate the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash.](https://gdb.voanews.com/b0b82264-b275-4328-8450-996e9facfd66_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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People bring flowers and candles to the Dutch embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, to commemorate the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash.
![People walk amongst the debris at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine.](https://gdb.voanews.com/43727760-a9a0-45bf-88b3-c199dd30b0d1_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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People walk amongst the debris at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine.
![A relative of passengers on flight MH17 cries as he waits in a bus to be transported to an unknown location to receive more information, at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.](https://gdb.voanews.com/5694f214-bc7a-4e01-b7b0-561842225439_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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A relative of passengers on flight MH17 cries as he waits in a bus to be transported to an unknown location to receive more information, at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
![People take photos of a screen showing arrival details of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (C) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.](https://gdb.voanews.com/9c191eef-6511-4c34-808b-39a66f06e36f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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People take photos of a screen showing arrival details of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (C) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.