Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 'shot down' in Ukraine - as it happened

A global airline industry group said MH17 appeared to be flying through open airspace, not previously under warning, when it crashed, Reuters reports.

"Based on the information currently available, it is believed that the airspace that the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association said in a statement

This blog page is wrapping up now, and the Guardian's live coverage will continue from London's Matthew Weaver here.

The first response of the Russian ambassador when summoned by the Australian foreign minister was to blame Ukraine for the plane disaster, which is "deeply, deeply unsatisfactory", said the Australian prime minister.

Saying it had nothing to do with them "doesn't stand up to serious scrutiny", said Tony Abbott.

Abbott also responded to a question he's been asked several times today but has so far treated cautiously – whether Vladimir Putin's invitation to the G20 in Brisbane in November would be revoked. He said he didn't want to pre-empt events, but "it's absolutely imperative if Russia is to maintain any international standing at all, that there be complete Russian co-operation with this", he said.

"No excuses, no blame-shifting, no protecting of people who may be backed by Russia but may be involved in this terrible event."

He said Australia would be reluctant to act unilaterally on something like this, but wanted to act with "respect and restraint".

Ukrainian emergency workers have found the plane's black box flight recorder, AFP reports.

It was earlier believed the recorder had been taken by pro-Russian separatists in the area.

Malaysia Airlines has released a statement saying the MH17 plane had a clean maintenance record.

The aircraft’s last maintenance check was on 11 July 2014. The next check was due on 27 August 2014. The maintenance was conducted at Malaysia Airlines’ hangar at KLIA. The aircraft had a clean bill of health.

The aircraft was manufactured in July 1997, and so had 17 years in service. The aircraft had recorded 75,322 hours with a total of 11,434 cycles.

All communication systems on the aircraft were functioning normally. The B777-200 uses the Rolls-Royce Trent-800 engine and has a 282-seat capacity.

The Guardian's Martin Farrer provides some analysis on how the Ukraine crisis has worsened over the last week in the lead up to the shooting down of the plane.

Fighting between forces of the pro-western Kiev government and separatists who want union with Moscow has intensified in the past week, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for cross-border attacks.

The heaviest fighting in recent days has centred around the industrial city of Luhansk, one of two rebel “capitals”, along with Donetsk, where rebels have concentrated their forces after abandoning smaller towns in the eastern region.

Read his day-by-day breakdown here.

I earlier reported some comments from the former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton. She had some pretty forthright things to say on what the EU should do in response to Russian aggression, and the likelihood that if a surface-to-air missile was used it "had to have come from Russia."

Here's the full video.

The below map is from Guardian Australia's data journalist, Nick Evershed.

Mapping flight routes in the area of the missile strike over the last 24 hours shows there were several flights in the vicinity before and after, including Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, and China Airlines [China Airlines has asked us to point out that because of safety considerations they have avoided Ukrainian airspace since April 2014]. MH17 crash site is the red circle, however the MH17 flight route was not available. Flight route data from flightaware.com

View image in fullscreen

Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has told reporters the Australian death toll is now believed to be 28.

Tania Branigan in Beijing has filed this explanation of the jurisdiction for an investigation into the incident.

Sidney Dekker, an expert on aviation safety at Griffith University, said: "According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation - a UN body - authority over the crash site and all in it lies squarely with the country in which it happens. It is not where the plane has registered, or from where [it flew], or where the airline is based."

For another party to remove material such as flight data or cockpit voice recorders - or even fragments of a missile - would contravene international agreements, he said.

He said it would be up to Ukraine to appoint an Investigator In Charge, who would then be expected to pull in other parties as appropriate.

In reality, almost all investigations are international, with the country where a crash occurred needing to liaise with officials and experts from the carrier's home country and wherever aircraft instruments had been made, for example.

But in some cases - such as that of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing in March - other countries may play a particularly important part, thanks to their resources, their technical knowledge or the political dimension of the incident.

"It's an interesting question whether Russia would have a formal role at all. I don't think it had any nationals on board and I don't think there was any Russian equipment," Dekker added.

"But it may well have [involved] a Russian surface to air missile. If I was the IIC and found a Russian surface to air missile [fragment] I would need to get Russia involved to explain to me its range, and so on."

The New York Times has mapped some European flights over the last week, revealing that while some airlines actively avoided the Ukraine, others, including Malaysia Airlines, have not. See the full post here.

Hong Kong's immigration department has confirmed at least one Hong Kong man is among the dead.

"After preliminary verification of the passenger lists the immigration department found that one Hong Kong resident and his or her relative who held an overseas passport took the flight involved in the accident. We have immediately contacted their relatives ... and will offer any possible assistance," a department statement told the South China Morning Post.

Australian government buildings across the world will fly flags at half mast on Saturday, in mourning of the country's 27 victims. A national day of mourning and an official commemorative event will be held once "the families of those who have lost their lives have had time to comprehend this horrific event", said prime minister Tony Abbott.

The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte ordered flags fly at half mast on Netherlands government buildings earlier on Thursday, to mourn the 154 Dutch passengers killed.

"The whole of the Netherlands is in mourning," he said. "This beautiful summer day has ended in the blackest possible way."

The Guardian's Harriet Salem is in Grabovo, where day is just dawning.

She's tweeted the below impressions.

You can read her chilling account of the aftermath of the disaster here.

The field near the tiny rural hamlet where MH17 plunged to the ground was a scene of smouldering charred earth and twisted metal as shocked locals milled about, trying to comprehend what had happened. A piece of the plane's fuselage with two window frames intact and a section of one of the two engines were about the most obvious evidence that this had been a passenger plane carrying hundreds of people when it took off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport early Thursday afternoon.

News of the crash has been greeted with not just horror but disbelief in Malaysia, where distress at the loss was amplified by the sheer incredulity of facing a second air disaster in five months, writes the Guardian's China correspondent Tania Branigan.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March. It has yet to be found despite a huge international search, which is still going on.

The crash of flight MH17 on Thursday had immediate and chilling echoes.

Read the full article here.

This audio, released by the Security Service of Ukraine, is being widely shown across the world's media. This particular transcript was obtained independently by the Guardian. Its authenticity has not been confirmed or dismissed.

Ukraine claimed the audio contains conversations involving a rebel fighter named 'Bes', Russian Colonel Vasyl Mykolaiovych Geranin and Cossack military leader Mykola Kozitsyn discussing the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine.

Below is a summary of new developments from the last hours. Click here for an earlier summary.

• Authorities have updated the death toll to 298 people killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, near the Russian border, reportedly to include three infants not counted earlier.
  
• That number includes people from: Netherlands 154, Malaysia 43 (including 15 crew & 2 infants), Australia 27, Indonesia 12 (including 1 infant), United Kingdom 9, Germany 4, Belgium 4, Philippines 3, Canada 1, New Zealand 1. There are still 40 unverified nationalities.
  
• A number of the passengers were on their way to an international Aids conference in Melbourne, Australia. Names have not been confirmed but it’s believed leading HIV/Aids researchers are among the dead.
  
• Malaysian Airlines is still contacting the next of kin of the deceased passengers but said in statement they will release the passenger manifest when they have finished.
  
• World governments have responded with shock, sadness and anger at the incident. Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said if the plane was indeed shot down by a surface-to-air missile as believed by US intelligence agencies, then “the equipment had to have come from Russia”. She called for the EU to step up their sanctions against Russia and not “stand idly by”.
  
• The United Nations security council has scheduled a meeting for Friday morning.
• The White House called for a ceasefire in the region, backed by Russia, Ukraine and separatist groups, to allow for unfettered access for a "full, credible and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible”.
  
• Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said it appeared the plane was shot down by Russian-backed rebels and joined world leaders in demanding a multinational impartial investigation. He said Australia would vote for a UN security council resolution enabling an inquiry.
  
• Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is negotiating with pro-Russian separatists who control the area around the crash site to establish a humanitarian corridor.
• The separatists have reportedly taken the plane’s black box flight recorder and global leaders have demanded it be handed over.
  
• Poroshenko said Russian aggression is a threat to global security.
  
• Russian president Vladimir Putin has reportedly ordered Russian military and civilian agencies to co-operate with any investigation, but he also said Ukraine has to take responsibility for the incident.
  
• Air safety experts have criticised Malaysia Airlines for flying over Ukraine airspace but the company maintains that the flight path was deemed safe to travel by civil aviation authorities.
  
• The plane was traveling 1,000ft above the no-fly zone. Other airlines have said they either began avoiding the airspace above the troubled region several months ago, or have now joined Malaysia Airlines in diverting all aircraft away from it.
  

Stock markets in Europe, the US, and Asia have taken a hit in response to the disaster. Shares in Malaysia Airlines dropped almost 18%. The Australian market was also bracing for a fall.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said Russian aggression is a threat to global security.

Poroshenko appeals to the global community to treat the missile attack on MH17 as more than just a local problem, calling the attack an act of terrorism and a wake-up call for the whole world.

The New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully has said one New Zealand national travelling with her Dutch husband is among the passengers killed.

The Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has released a statement mourning the Australians killed.

Our hearts go out to the families of all the dead.

At least 27 Australians citizens have lost their lives on flight MH17. Nine resided in Queensland, nine in Victoria, seven in Western Australia, one in the ACT and one in New South Wales.

We can’t restore them to life but we can and will do everything to support them in this sad and bitter time because that is the Australian way – we help in times of trouble.

Counselling, consular and all possible assistance will be provided to the families during the difficult days ahead.

Nabeelah Shabbir has written in tribute of her friend Pim de Kuijer, who was on board the plane heading to the Melbourne Aids conference.

You can read Nabeelah's full article here.

Pim's last post and photo is from Schiphol airport. His friends and acquaintances will continue to mourn him online, as we are so used to in our generation. I don't think Pim and I were even on Facebook when we met. My friendship with him symbolises an era when so many of us young Europeans were looking for each other, to work together, to share our languages, in the mid-00s. At 32, he was one year older than me.

I've spoken briefly to Pim's brother, Paul, on Facebook. He is happy for our support, and for everyone to know how wonderful Pim was, though there are plenty of others who can attest to that far better than I.

It's too early to tell if the plane was brought down by a terrorist attack or a "military event gone wrong", a leading terrorism expert has told Guardian Australia's Gay Alcorn.

“If it’s a terrorist attack it’s totally unclear who the targets are. This isn’t making sense as a terror attack. There’s no way the conflict in the Ukraine is related to Malaysia. Unfortunately, like it or not, terrorist attacks make sense," said the director of the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University, professor Gary Bouma.

Read Alcorn's article here.

From my colleague Oliver Milman in Melbourne:

The World Health Organisation confirmed that its employee Glenn Thomas is among the dead.

British-born Thomas, who was based in Geneva and handled media relations for WHO, was heading to Melbourne for the Aids 2014 conference. Next of kin have been informed.

A WHO spokesman told Guardian Australia: "We are waiting for confirmation on whether there were any others from the World Health Organisation on the flight as we were sending a huge delegation to the conference. As yet, Glenn is the only one we're aware of."

If the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, as has been quite confidently suggested by US analysts, then "the equipment had to have come from Russia", the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said in one of the strongest US statements about the crash yet.

She also called on the EU to increase sanctions against Russia, and join with the US in further supporting Ukraine.

From my perspective benefit of not being in the government, if there is evidence linking Russia to this, that should inspire the Europeans to do much more on three counts. One, toughen their own sanctions. Make it very clear there has to be a price to pay. Number two, immediately accelerate efforts and announce they are doing so to find alternatives to Gazprom. You know, Russia has not diversified its economy. It is still largely dependent upon natural resources, principally gas and oil. And thirdly, do more in concert with us to support the Ukrainians. There has to be more help on their borders in order to prevent this porous border allowing Russians to go back and forth, insurgents to do the same. Do more to help their military obtain better equipment, better training. The Ukrainian military under Poroshenko has been much more focused and more successful, but nobody kids themselves.

If Russia really keeps weighing in on behalf of the insurgents, there's a lot more that needs to be done. And to put Putin on notice that he has gone too far and we are not going to stand idly by. So Europeans have to be the ones to take the lead on this. It was a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over European territory. There should be outrage in European capitals."

The White House has called for an immediate ceasefire supported by Russia, Ukraine and separatist forces, to allow an international investigation.

It is critical that there be a full, credible and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible. We urge all concerned – Russia, the pro-Russian separatists, and Ukraine – to support an immediate ceasefire in order to ensure safe and unfettered access to the crash site for international investigators and in order to facilitate the recovery of remains.

The statement – which expands on earlier sentiments expressed by the secretary of state, John Kerry – also said the role of international organisations such as the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be "particularly relevant", and US government officials will liaise with them and relevant countries.

In the meantime, it is vital that no evidence be tampered with in any way and that all potential evidence and remains at the crash site are undisturbed. The United States remains prepared to contribute immediate assistance to any international investigation, including through resources provided by the NTSB and the FBI.

While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fuelled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, materiel and training. This incident only highlights the urgency with which we continue to urge Russia to immediately take concrete steps to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and to support a sustainable ceasefire and path toward peace that the Ukrainian government has consistently put forward.

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has released a statement condemning Russian aggression in the Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that one Canadian was killed in the plane crash.

Earlier today, I was shocked and saddened to learn that a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet en route from the Netherlands to Malaysia was shot down in eastern Ukraine, killing all on board. We understand from reports that a Canadian citizen is among the dead. On behalf of the government of Canada, Laureen and I offer our thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of the victims of this outrageous act.

While we do not yet know who is responsible for this attack, we continue to condemn Russia’s military aggression and illegal occupation of Ukraine, which is at the root of the ongoing conflict in the region.

Canada stands ready to provide whatever support it can to assist authorities in determining the cause of the crash.”

Delegates from the Aids conference are speaking in Canberra, Australia, at a prearranged event at the National Press Club.

Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi opened her address with a tearful statement on the reports that a number of delegates were on board the plane.

She said if it is confirmed that her colleagues were onboard, she is devastated.

"Right now our thoughts are with their family. It will be a great loss for the HIV/Aids community.

"I had the privilege to work close with them ... If it is confirmed it will be a terrible loss for all of us. I have no word really to try to express my sadness, I feel totally devastated if it is confirmed."

Barré-Sinoussi received the 2008 Nobel prize in medicine for her role in discovering HIV, and is the president of the International Aids Society and international co-chair of Aids 2014.

James Brown, a military fellow at Australian thinktank the Lowy Institute, writes that the US analysts who pinpointed part of the missile launch should also be able to find the launcher.

This means it will be up to the US to make the case as to who fired the missile, potentially putting Washington in a position of greater direct confrontation with Russia (beyond recently announced sanctions).

You can read more of Brown's analysis here.

Witnesses describe the scene on Thursday afternoon when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border. Locals describe hearing explosions and watching the plane fall in fear and shock.

Owen Ryan, the director of the Aids conference set to begin in Melbourne, has just spoken to the media and said they can’t confirm reports of the deaths of their colleagues at this stage, but if it is true the world has lost “giants”.

Ryan would not say whether the conference is still going ahead, but told media they would deliver further news as they received it.

While the names of four or five people connected to the conference have been shared on social media as victims of the crash, there are other unconfirmed reports that up to 100 of the passengers were on their way to Melbourne.

The US secretary of state John Kerry has released a statement saying he is "horrified" by the crash and has called for a "credible" investigation.

There are no words adequate to express our condolences to the families of the nearly 300 victims. We offer our sympathies and support to the governments of Malaysia and the Netherlands at this difficult time, as well as to all those whose citizens may have been on board. We are reviewing whether any American citizens were aboard the flight. The United States Government remains prepared to assist with a credible, international investigation any way we can, and we will continue to be in touch with all relevant partners as we seek the facts of what happened today.

Details of some passengers are emerging. As I wrote before, we will wait for official confirmation before naming any individuals, but my colleague Melissa Davey writes about a couple of people here.

“Should it disappear, this is what it looks like,” a man wrote on his Facebook wall along with a photo of the MH17 Malaysian Airlines plane he was about to board with his girlfriend in Amsterdam.

It was supposed to be a joke. But messages flooded in hours later, as people realised their young friend and his girlfriend from the Netherlands were passengers on the plane shot down over eastern Ukraine.

A few screengrabs of current flight paths across Europe are being shared across social media. The one below shows quite an obvious empty space over Ukraine as airlines direct all craft to avoid the area.

The New York Times writes that this tragedy was foreshadowed by the downing of a transport plane on Monday.

A number of planes have been brought down over the conflict region, although none of them at such a high altitude.

Despite the chaos in the skies over Ukraine, passenger aircraft continued to operate in the region. Only the airspace above Crimea and its surrounding waters was completely closed to aircraft. The Malaysian plane was flying on an approved route — the assumption by international aviation organisations was that civilian jetliners could fly far above the danger.

Read the full report here.

The Australian prime minister is using strong language around the possible circumstances of the plane, which he said has been shot down “it seems by Russian-backed rebels”.

“As it stands this looks less like an accident than a crime,” he told parliament a short time ago.

Australia will back a UN security council resolution for an independent investigation, “with full access to the site, the debris, the black box and all individuals who might be in a position to shed light on this terrible event”.

“We owe it to the families of the dead to find out exactly what has happened and who is responsible.”

The opposition leader Bill Shorten also called for an investigation into where the weapon believed to be used came from.

Colleagues of people who were on the flight and on their way to the Melbourne Aids conference are expressing their condolences on social media. We are waiting to name individuals until they have been officially confirmed.

Malaysia Airlines will release the passenger list once all families of the victims have been notified.

More on that discussion around the airline's decision not to avoid a flight path over the Ukraine:

Australian airline Qantas has told Reuters it shifted its London to Dubai route away from Ukrainian airspace several months ago. The spokesman declined to say why, but the crisis in Ukraine has been escalating since November.

A number of other airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airlines, Alitalia, Lufthansa, Air France, Aeroflot and Transaero have also shifted flight paths. British Airways told Fairfax the only flight which enters Ukrainian airspace is a daily London to Kiev route.

Malaysia Airlines has immediately changed the routes of its European flights to avoid the region.

"With immediate effect, all European flights operated by Malaysia Airlines will be taking alternative routes avoiding the usual route," said a statement from the airline.

"The usual flight route was earlier declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions."

However Central Queensland University accident investigation and safety specialist professor Geoff Dell says the airline should never have been flying over the country.

"From as soon as the conflict started they shouldn't have been going anywhere near it," Dell said.

"They should've shifted to alternate routes, like all the other airlines seemed to have done.

"You just don't go anywhere near it unless you've got no alternatives and there's always the alternative of not going."

The International Aids Society (IAS) has released a statement, confirming that a number of the passengers were on their way to the International Aids Conference in Melbourne.

The International Aids Society today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20^th International Aids Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today.

At this incredibly sad and sensitive time the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy.

ABC news is reporting the extra three people now added to the list of passengers killed were three infants, and so were not in seats themselves.

Below is a revised list of passenger numbers and nationalities, according to Malaysia Airlines.

The number of passengers and crew according to nationality are as follows:

Netherlands 154

Malaysia 43 (including 15 crew & 2 infants)

Australia 27

Indonesia 12 (including 1 infant)

United Kingdom 9

Germany 4

Belgium 4

Philippines 3

Canada 1

Unverified 41

Total 298

The number of people killed has been revised up to 298.

The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has confirmed that at least 27 Australians were among the 298 passengers killed.

She said some passengers were heading for a connecting flight to Australia, including a direct connection to Perth, and a number of others passengers are believed to have been travelling to an international Aids conference in Melbourne.

Bishop called for a full independent and international investigation into the crash.

"This is a terrible tragedy. We don’t know the cause but there is speculation the plane was shot down. If that is the case it is an unspeakable crime."

Commenting on speculation that separatists have taken the black box, Bishop said: "Regardless of the circumstances we urge the separatists to co-operate with an investigation into this crash. If they have taken the black box it must be returned to authorities immediately."

The Australian government is convening national security meetings and is seeking access to the crash site for its consular staff in Warsaw.

Kenneth Quinn of the global air safety group, Flight Safety Foundation, has called for a multinational investigation into the incident. Ordinarily the country in which a crash occurred would lead an investigation, but there is concern it would be compromised in such a disputed area.

He told AP that only "an independent, multinational investigation can truly get to the bottom of it without political interference". He said he is concerned about "spoilage" of the crash site and investigators' access to critical evidence like data and voice recorders.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has said the world should be “filled with revulsion.”

There were at least 23 Australians among the passengers on board.

Abbott said it was a “grim, grim time” for the families of those on board and “a grim day for the the world”, adding if it was confirmed the plane had been shot down “it becomes not an accident but a crime”.

Abbott raised the prospect that “Russian proxies, using Russian-supplied equipment” could have been responsible.

When asked if Australia would rescind an invite to Russian president Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Brisbane scheduled for November, Abbott responded: “I don’t want to pre-empt what happens down the track”.

A number of social media posts from pro-Russian insurgents – which have since been deleted – are being trumpeted by Ukrainian officials as evidence that it was rebels who shot down the plane.

AFP reports that among them is from the "defence minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Strelkov, who posted on his VK social networking page: "We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez."

"And here is a video confirming that a 'bird fell'," it read.

The website then provides a link identical to that published by Ukrainian media in reports about the Malaysia Airlines jet, said AFP.

There are unconfirmed reports that a number of the passengers on the plane were high-profile Aids researchers and scientists on the way to Melbourne, Australia for the 2014 international conference.

New York Times Moscow bureau chief Neil MacFarquhar is reporting that Putin has ordered all military and civilian agencies to cooperate with the investigation of the crash.

The Malaysian prime minister earlier today gave the coordinates for the plane's emergency locator beacon.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has tweeted the below information. Because the crash site is in rebel-controlled Ukrainian territory, officials have not been able to access it yet. President Poroshenko earlier said he is negotiating with rebels to establish a humanitarian corridor to the site.

This is Helen Davidson, taking over the live blog from Sydney for the next few hours.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has made a statement regarding the incident to a meeting of economic advisors. The statement – released by the Kremlin and translated by AP is below:

Dear colleagues,

You know that a terrible event occurred today in the sky over Ukraine, an awful tragedy – a civilian plane was [destroyed]; 285 people, according to preliminary information, were killed.

On behalf of the Russian leadership and the Russian government, we express condolences to the bereaved families, the governments of those countries whose nationals were on that plane. I ask you to honour their memory.

(A moment of silence)

In this regard, I want to note that this tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in south-east Ukraine. And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.

I have already given instructions to the military departments to provide all necessary assistance in the investigation of this crime. And I also ask the government of the Russian Federation through the available civilian agencies that have the capability to do everything for a thorough investigation of this event. We will do everything – everything that depends on us, anyway – in order that the objective picture of what happened is part of the public domain here, in Ukraine and in the rest of the world. This is an absolutely unacceptable thing, and no one has the right to let this pass without the appropriate conclusions and without all of us having objective information about the incident.

The day's developments so far:

Malaysia Airlines MH17, carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in east Ukraine near the village of Grabovo. There are no presumed survivors. There are believed to have been Dutch, British, Australian, Malaysian and Indonesian nationals on the plane, among others.

US officials say the passenger jet was shot down, citing evidence of infrared heat signal of a "massive event" as well as "information from intelligence assets" confirming the use of a surface-to-air missile system. Vice-president Joe Biden said the plane was "apparently … blown out of the sky".

Separatist rebels and locals have begun tentative recovery efforts, bringing fire engines to put out blazes. Locals say the plane exploded in mid-air, and debris and bodies are scattered across an area several kilometers wide.

Ukraine has traded accusations with rebels of shooting down the plane, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saying he believed a "terrorist act" was responsible, and a separatist leader denying any involvement.

The US and Malaysia have promised to send teams to join an international investigation, as well as Ukrainian efforts. President Barack Obama spoke with Poroshenko spoke by phone, as well as with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday.

Putin said Kiev "bears responsibility for the tragedy", while Ukrainian officials have alleged Russian involvement by indicating purported rebel intercepted communications and a social network page attributed to a rebel leader. A spokesman for the Kremlin said the notion of any Russian hand was "stupidity".

British foreign secretary Philip Hammond "believes there were British nationals on board the flight", according to a statement released by his office.

"We don’t have detailed information on numbers of British nationals yet. I don’t want to speculate until we have completed our checks on all the passenger information. This must be resolved by an international investigation to establish the facts of what has happened. We believe the United Nations, particularly the United Nations civil aviation organisation, is the right body to lead that investigation and we will provide it all the support we can, including technical support through the Air Accident Investigation Branch.”

“I’m deeply shocked by this appalling incident and I send my heart-felt condolences to all those who may have lost family and friends. We’re determined to get to the bottom of understanding what has happened here.

“As yet, we do not have any definitive information about how this incident occurred and I don’t want to speculate at this stage. We believe that there must be a UN-led international investigation of the facts. We are prepared to make Air Accident Investigation Branch assets and specialists available to aid such an investigation. We do believe that there were British nationals on board the flight. We are working through passenger data, cross-checking it and referencing it to establish exactly the numbers and identities of those British nationals, and as soon as we have further information we will be in contact with the families."

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on in Ukraine on Friday at 10am, Reuters reports, citing diplomats.

UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman was expected to brief the council, said Rwanda's UN mission, president of the council for July. The meeting was requested by Britain.

"We had already been planning to ask for a emergency session of the council to discuss the situation in Ukraine even before we heard the news [about the plane] and that just makes this session even more urgent," British UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.

The 15-member Security Council has held more than a dozen meetings on the Ukraine crisis, but has taken no formal action due to the deep disagreements among Russia, Britain, France and the United States – four of its five veto-wielding members.

President Obama has spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. Both of them stressed that the crash site must remain intact in Ukraine until international investigators can examine "all aspects of the tragedy", according to the White House.

The White House said Obama "assured Poroshenko that US experts will offer all possible assistance immediately".

Separatists have "hampered" search efforts, the head of Ukraine's emergency services tells Reuters.

"The search work is difficult because we are talking about a big radius … but also because armed terrorists who are on the spot are hampering things," Serhiy Bochkovsky told journalists. He gave no details.

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti, which has consistently had contacts with separatist rebels, had previously reported that some would be open to a "temporary ceasefire" to allow for recovery teams.

Separatists have made unverified claims to have found MH17's black box, Russia's Interfax reports, but Harriet Salem (@HarrietSalem), who is at the crash site for the Guardian, cannot confirm the claim.

A piece of the plane's fuselage with two window frames intact and a section of one of the two engines were about the most obvious evidence that this had been a passenger plane carrying hundreds of people when it took off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport early Thursday afternoon.

Body parts belonging to the 280 passengers on board the plane were strewn around the scene. Debris was thought to spread over an area 15km wide.

View image in fullscreen

A strong smell of aviation fuel and burnt rubber hung in the air as separatist fighters milled around to control access to the area in which workers from the emergency services were sifting through the wreckage.

Another farmer said he was on his tractor when he heard the plane, followed by a loud bang. "Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two – there was thick black smoke," he said.

You can read her full piece here.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has called for a full international investigation of the crash, AFP reports.

"There is clearly a need for a full, transparent and international investigation," Ban told reporters. He offered condolences to the victims' families.

Britain has called for a UN-led investigation and is seeking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

Guardian diplomatic editor Julian Borger has written a quick analysis on possibilities in the aftermath of MH17's crash.

The Ukrainian civil war is the world's concern now. What impact this will have, beyond the immediate tragedy, on how the conflict unfolds is going to depend on who is responsible and how they respond.

If the eastern rebels are to blame, as Kiev is asserting, all eyes will be on Moscow, as it is almost certain that the more sophisticated weapons in their arsenal, including anti-aircraft missiles, came from Russia.

One scenario is that on investigation, Russia discovers the downing of the airliner was indeed the work of the rebels using a weapon that came from Russian stocks, and the realisation causes a stepping back from its high-stakes, high-risk involvement in the conflict.

In the early hours following the tragedy, such a scenario looks optimistic. Russian media have already gone into deny-and-blame mode, some even going so far as to say President Putin's jet was in the same general area as MH17 over Polish airspace earlier, and that the attack was "an attempt to shoot down his plane".

Reports out of Moscow have said that the rebels do not have the Buk missile system that is suspected here, although the same agencies only recently said that they did.

Earlier today Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko declared the crash of MH17 a "terrorist act", and Kiev security officials have accused "Russian agents" of playing a part.

The European head of Malaysia Airlines has announced nationalities of some of the passengers on board MH17, agencies report.

Among those on board were 154 Dutch, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines and one Canadian.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has established a hotline for anyone who believes a relative may have been on board: 1300 555 135

Russian president Vladimir Putin has blamed Kiev for the crash, saying: "Undoubtedly, the government in whose airspace this happened bears responsibility for this terrible tragedy," according to a Kremlin statement (Russian).

He also said "this tragedy would not have happened if there were peace in this land, or in any case, if [Kiev] had not renewed hostilities in south-eastern Ukraine."

He said that he has given "instructions to the military so that they have all the necessary help in the investigation of this crime", and that he's requested the government's civilian agencies to assist as best in can in the investigation. He added that "no one has the right" to make conclusions without comprehensive, "objective information about the incident".

Putin also reiterated his condolences for victims' families, and observed a moment of silence.

US vice-president Joe Biden says MH17 was "blown out of the sky", as the Guardian's Jon Swaine quotes him in full comments from his speech in Detroit.

"I have been engaged with our national security team and on the phone with president Poroshenko of Ukraine and in dealing with a very tragic circumstance, which you have probably already heard about.

"A Malaysian aircraft, heading from western Europe to Kuala Lumpur, as it crossed the border of Ukraine and Russia, apparently, and I say apparently because we don't have all the details, and I want to be sure of what I'm saying, apparently had been shot down. Shot down, not an accident. Blown out of the sky.

"We see reports that their may have been American citizens on board and obviously that's our first concern. And we are now working every minute to confirm those reports as I speak.

"This is truly a grave situation. Nearly 300 souls have been lost. The families have our consolation and our prayers. There are many of them who need answers, and we will get those answers and we will take the next steps accordingly. We are in touch with the Ukrainian government, I was on the phone as I said for the better part of half an hour with President Poroshenko, I'm in contact with our president, as well as our national security team.

"I offered president Poroshenko the help of our expertise our National Transportation Safety Board and other experts in the community. He accepted that help and they will be on their way rapidly to see if we can get to the bottom of this.

"I know you join me in prayers for the families of all the passengers, wherever they call home. It's important to get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later, because of the possible repercussions that could flow from this beyond the tragic loss of life. So that's why I was late and I apologise for it. But my heart goes out to those families."

There are "grave concerns" that there were a number of Australians on board MH17, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs says.

The BBC reports that foreign secretary Philip Hammond believes British nationals were on board as well.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has given a statement on his country's position and on international agreements to investigate the crash. Razak said Ukrainian president Poroshenko will negotiate with rebels "to establish a humanitarian corridor".

Poroshenko's comments fit with reports from Russia's RIA Novosti that rebels in east Ukraine are willing to discuss a ceasefire so that teams can reach the crash to recover bodies and investigate. RIA Novosti quoted self-proclaimed leader of Donetsk Aleksandr Borodai.

Razak said Malaysia would participate in investigations, and "dispatch a special flight to Kiev carrying a special disaster assistance and rescue team."

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He continued that though Ukraine believes the plane was shot down, "at this stage Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of the tragedy, but we must and we will find out precisely what happened to this flight. No stone will be left unturned".

"If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice."

Razak said he had spoken with president Obama, and that they agreed "the investigation must not be hindered in any way. An international team must have full access to the crash site, and no one should interfere with the [crash site] or move any debris."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of those on board the flight. I cannot imagine what they must be going through at this painful time. The flight passengers and crew came from many different countries, but today regardless of nationality we are all united in grief."

MH17 "was shot down" and there "may have been American citizens on board", US vice-president Joe Biden said in a speech at the Netroots Nation conference in Detroit.

Senior US officials have told the Wall Street Journal and CNN, as well as other American news outlets, that they have confirmed a surface-to-air missile brought down the plane.

As explained by Barbara Starr on CNN, US intelligence found a heat signature from "a massive event" and also had "information from intelligence assets" confirming the use of a surface-to-air missile system.

"[US intelligence has] another asset that gives them a heat signature, an infrared heat signature that tells them there was a massive event … they put both of these pieces of information together and concluded that the plane was shot down," Starr said.

US intelligence is reportedly still working to determine the exact location from which the missile was fired, and whether it was on the Russian or the Ukrainian side of the border.

Harriet Salem (@HarrietSalem) is in Grabovo for the Guardian.

Flight MH17 was flying just 1,000ft above restricted airspace when it was shot down, according to the European air traffic control body, per a report from my colleague in London Dan Milmo.

Eurocontrol said Ukrainian authorities had barred aircraft from ground level to 32,000 feet but the doomed aircraft was cruising at 33,000 feet, still within range of sophisticated ground-to-air weaponry, when it was hit. All flights in eastern Ukraine have now been barred from the area, Eurocontrol added.

In a statement last night the CAA said airlines had now been told by the European air traffic control body to avoid the region.The UK Department for Transport said airborne flights were now being rerouted around the area where MH17 crashed. "Flights already airborne are being routed around the area by air traffic control in the region."

British Airways said it was not overflying Ukraine. "The safety and security of our customers is always our top priority. Our flights are not using Ukrainian airspace, with the exception of our once-a-day service between Heathrow and Kiev. We are keeping those services under review, but Kiev is several hundred kilometres from the incident site."

A pilot for a major European airline told the Guardian: "Ukraine is huge. If you were to close that airspace it would be a long way round for a lot of airlines. If you were to close it to high-level traffic it would be quite expensive in terms of extra fuel and it would be quite disruptive."

You can read his full report here.

A US team will go to Ukraine "to determine what happened", vice-president Joe Biden has said.

Biden said that Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has accepted US assistance after the two spoke this morning, and after Biden offered his condolences for the "tragic event".

Ukraine's state security chief has accused two Russian military intelligence officers of being involved in the MH17 crash, Reuters reports, citing "intercepted phone conversations" between the officers.

SBU chief Valentyn Nalivaychenko said he based his allegation on intercepts of phone conversations between the two officers.

"Now you know who carried out this crime. We will do everything for the Russian military who carried out this crime to be punished," he told journalists.

The purported telephone intercepts have been posted to YouTube (Russian), as have past recordings of alleged conversations between rebels, some of whom are accused of being agents with Russian agents.

In the recordings, men nicknamed "Demon", "Mayor," and "Grek" panic and curse as they realize they've shot down a passenger plane and killed civilians, describing to each other the "bodies of women and children".

The authenticity of the recordings, however, cannot be confirmed.

The Independent has tweeted a map showing reroutes of flights over Europe.

The day's developments so far:

Malaysia Airlines MH17, carrying 295 people, crashed in east Ukraine near the village of Grabovo. Debris and bodies are scattered across several miles, and there are no presumed survivors.

Separatist rebels and locals have begun tentative recovery efforts, bringing fire engines to put out blazes. Locals say the plane exploded in mid-air.

Ukraine has traded accusations with rebels of shooting down the plane, with President Petro Poroshenko saying he believed a "terrorist act" was responsible, and an adviser to the interior minister saying a Russian-built weapon shot down the aircraft. Both Kiev and a separatist leader denied any involvement.

US and Russian presidents Obama and Putin spoke by phone, and the US has said it will work to determine what caused the crash and whether any Americans were on board. A spokesman for the Kremlin said the notion of any Russian hand was "stupidity".

Delta, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Aeroflot and other airlines said they would avoid Ukrainian airspace.

Ukraine accused Russia of downing one of its fighter jets inside Ukrainian territory earlier on Thursday.

A report summarizing the day's events so far has been filed by Shaun Walker in Kiev, Harriet Salem in Grabovo, Tania Branigan in Beijing, Alec Luhn in Moscow, and can be read in full here.

Malaysia has greeted news of the MH17 crash with disbelief and horror, Tania Branigan reports from Beijing.

Distress at the loss was amplified by the sheer incredulity of facing a second air disaster in five months.

The crash of flight MH17 on Thursday – another Boeing-777 which suddenly lost contact with air traffic control with hundreds on board – had immediate and chilling echoes. "I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation," Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, announced on Twitter.

The opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, said: "MH17 – ya Allah – another tragedy. Awaiting details. Pray for safety."

Nothing encapsulated the shock and heartbreak of the news more than the tweet from 18-year-old Malaysian Maira Elizabeth Nari, whose father, Andrew, was chief steward on MH370: "I am hoping it is not true. My God, save Your children. #PrayForMH17."

Another message that she retweeted – from Malaysia's badminton world champion, Lee Chong Wei – expressed the bewilderment so many felt: "I don't think we are ready to accept this so soon after the #MH370 tragedy."

You can read the full piece here.

Delta Air Lines will avoid Ukrainian airspace, AFP reports, quoting a statement from the US company.

Delta Air Lines said it was no longer sending flights through Ukrainian airspace after the crash of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

"Out of an abundance of caution, Delta is not routing flights through Ukrainian airspace and is monitoring the situation involving Malaysia Airlines Flight 17," Delta said in a statement.

"Everything rained down in bits and pieces", journalist Noah Sneider tells CNN, quoting a witness who says the plane exploded in mid-air.

Sneider says "the site is clearly controlled by the separatists" but that Ukrainian military forces are not far, and that "bodies are splayed out" over the field. "For the most part [all the debris] is burnt out and charred."

He goes on to say that those who've come to help at the crash site are mostly locals and rebels, and that "political persuasions are besides the point" at the moment.

Crowds in Kiev are leaving flowers at the Dutch embassy.

French flights have been told to avoid Ukrainian airspace, and Air France has joined the airliners making detours, AFP reports.

In France, a statement by junior transport minister Frederic Cuvillier said he had advised "French airlines to avoid Ukraine's airspace as long as the reasons behind this catastrophe are not known."

Air France said it had "taken the decision to no longer fly over eastern Ukraine as soon as it heard of the event."

A spokeswoman for German flag carrier Lufthansa told AFP it has decided to immediately make a "wide detour" around the area, and added: "Our passenger's safety is our top priority."

In London, a spokesman for the British Department for Transport told AFP: "Flights already airborne are being routed around the area by air traffic control in the region."

British Airways, Lufthansa, Turkish Airways, and Russian airlines Transaero and Aeroflot have all said they will avoid some or all Ukrainian airspace, and US flights were warned in April to avoid the region.

Journalist Noah Sneider is also on the scene.

The epicenter of the MH17 crash is a grim scene of "charred earth, twisted metal and body parts", Harriet Salem (@HarrietSalem) reports from Grabovo for the Guardian.

The field next to the tiny rural hamlet where MH-17 plunged to the ground was a scene of charred earth and twisted metal as shocked locals milled around the scene.

Body parts belonging to the 280 passengers on board the plane were tossed around the scene. The body of what appeared to be a young woman was flung about 500 metres from the epicentre of the crash, while a dismembered foot could be seen on the one road leading through the village.

A strong smell of aviation fuel hung in the air as rebels milled around to secure the area. Some 10 fire engines remained on the scene after rushing there to extinguish the many blazes caused by the crash.

One local resident, Alexander, says he was working in the field a few hundred metres away from its final resting place when he looked up. He feared the aircraft was going to fall on top of him.

The house in which another local, also named Alexander, and his relative called Olga, live in was just metres away from the crash site. They said they thought the village was being bombed after hearing two or three loud bangs before the force of the impact threw them to the ground.

Vice-president Joe Biden has offered assistance to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, Reuters reports, adding that the US will do what it can to to help determine the causes leading to the crash.

A vehicle-mounted, Russian-built Buk missile system may have shot down MH17, according to western-based defence specialists quoted by the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill (@EwenMacAskill).

Russian-backed rebels groups or Russian forces based in eastern Ukraine have allegedly been shooting at planes and helicopters with Buk missiles over the last week in an attempt to achieve mastery of airspace.

Shoulder-held Manpad missiles are popular with guerrilla groups worldwide but the Malaysian Airlines plane would have been flying above 10,000 metres, well beyond their range. The Buk, which the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Gerashenko, blamed for the attack, has a range of 22,000 metres.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military specialist at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said that he believed that either Russians or Russian supported groups in eastern Ukraine were responsible. He said they had been shooting at Ukrainian aircraft over the last week.

Sutyagin, who monitors social media in Ukraine, said a Ukrainian rebel force had been spotted just hours earlier with a Buk at Torez, a village close to the site where the plane came down.

Jonathan Eyal, director of the Royal United Services Institute, said it was not a matter of climbing aboard a van and pressing a button. Firing a missile required knowledge of how to use radar, how to lock onto a target and a host of other steps beyond the average Kalashnikov carrying rebel.

"If the plane was shot down, it could only have been shot down by a state authority … The only country that has a persistent policy of trying to prevent Ukrainians controlling airspace is Russia. Russia has taken an interest in shooting down aircraft and forcing Ukraine to use ground troops."

You can read the full analysis here.

Dozens of dead are scattered around a wide area, AFP reports from the scene near Grabovo, including interviews with witnesses.

Dozens of severely mutilated corpses could be seen strewn in the wreckage of a Malaysian airliner that crashed Thursday in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but there were no signs of survivors, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Debris was spread out for kilometres, and the tail of a passenger jet lay in a corn field with the Malaysian Airlines insignia on it, while insurgent fighters and several fire trucks were seen nearby the crash site.

"I had just gone to sleep at … when I heard an enormous bang," Katya, 64, told AFP. "It was like an earthquake."

Her daughter Natalya, 36, said that she had fled to safety when the sound of the explosion rumbled overhead. "I took my baby and went and hid in the basement," she said.

There was no sign of any rescue workers.

President Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called allegations that Russia was involved in the downing of MH17 "stupidity", Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) reports for the Guardian.

Reached by the Guardian on Thursday evening, president Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov called allegations that Russia had been involved in the downing of MH17 “stupidity”.

Ukraine's foreign ministry had reportedly said it would present evidence that Russia was involved in the crash. Peskov said that the Kremlin would not make a further statement on the tragedy because “no one knows” who is responsible.

Asked about the possibility of further US sanctions in light of this bloody development in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Peskov said he could not rule it out.

“The United States has recently been conducting a very non-constructive policy, and their actions are very unpredictable,” he said.

A site attributed to a separatist leader suggests rebels may have shot down MH17, but it has since been taken down and details remain unclear.

It features a comment saying "We just downed an An-26 near Torez. It's down somewhere near Progress mine," which suggests rebel forces may have believed the passenger jet to be a Ukrainian military transport plane.

The page, on the VKontakte social network, is attributed to Igor Girkin, who goes by the nom de guerre Strelkov and is the self-proclaimed military commander of the rebels. The page has been posting for rebels affiliated with Strelkov for weeks, and has some 130,000 followers.

The post continues "We had warned them not to fly in 'our sky'" and says "here is video confirmation of the "downed little bird." The linked video is the same as that used in media reports on the crash.

The post also says "a residential sector was not caught" and "Innocent people were not harmed."

Rebels have previously shot down an An-26 jet on 14 June, killing 49 Ukrainian military servicemen.

President Obama says the US is seeking "to determine whether there were American citizens onboard", Paul Lewis reports, quoting the president:

"That is our priority, and I've directed my national security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian government.

The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why. As a country our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of the passengers, wherever they call home."

British officials will meet to discuss the MH17 crash, "including the possibility that British nationals were on board". My colleague in London Dan Sabbagh sends the statement from Downing Street:

British officials were due to meet this evening to take stock of the Malaysian air disaster, including the possibility that British nationals were on board. It is likely that meeting will be largely practical and an assessment of what is known, as opposed to any ministerial political action.

David Cameron has joined the chorus of world leaders reacting to the crash.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko believes a "terrorist act" caused the MH17 crash, Reuters reports, quoting his press secretary.

"Poroshenko thinks this of the plane that was brought down: it is not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act," Svatoslav Tsegolko said

Ukrainian officials and rebels have accused each other of having played a part in the crash. Poroshenko categorically denies Ukrainian military action, and self-proclaimed rebel leader Aleksandr Borodai also denies involvement.

The New York Times' Sabrina Tavernise has arrived at the MH17 crash:

President Obama and President Putin discussed the crash of MH17 during a call this morning, as well as steps Russia could take to de-escalate the crisis in east Ukraine. The statement reads in part:

President Obama spoke with Russian President Putin today about the situation in Ukraine and the additional sanctions … President Obama also reiterated his concerns regarding the buildup of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border.

President Obama called on President Putin to take concrete steps to de-escalate the situation, including to press separatists to agree to a cease-fire, support a roadmap for negotiations, halt the flow of fighters and weapons into Ukraine, obtain the release of all hostages still held by the separatists, and work to establish an effective OSCE border-monitoring mechanism.

During the call, President Putin noted the early reports of a downed passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border.

Sanctions put in place yesterday were ordered by the US due to perceived support of separatist rebels from Russia.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is returning to the Netherlands, and has told Ukraine's president he is "deeply shocked". The Guardian's Europe editor Ian Traynor reports:

The Boeing 777 from Malaysian Airlines lifting off from Schiphol airport’s terminal 3 outside Amsterdam also had a Dutch airline flight number from KLM, KL4103.

The Dutch airline had no information on the disaster. The Malaysian Airlines desk at terminal three was closed on Thursday night.

At least 30 Dutch-speaking passengers were on the plane, according to two travel agencies which sold tickets for the flight. According to Dutch newspaper websites, several Dutch passports were found near the scene of the crash.

Lufthansa announced on Thursday evening that it was immediately ordering its aircraft to avoid the skies over eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, talked by telephone to Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. “I am deeply shocked by the tragic news about the crash of flight MH17 of Malaysian Airlines from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian territory.” Rutte said. “A lot is still unclear about the facts, circumstances and passengers.”

British Airways has joined the growing list of airliners avoiding Ukrainian airspace, as has Turkish Airlines and Russia's Aeroflot.

Malaysia Airlines has released a statement, saying more details will follow:

Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 14.15 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10am (Malaysia local time) the next day.

The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew onboard.

The US "cannot confirm any Americans on board", says State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who refused to confirm any reports of Americans among the passengers of MH17.

Speaking to reporters during a press briefing, she said the US has learned from reports in time with the public, and is working "in close contact" with Kiev.

"We have seen the same reports you have at this point. We don't have any confirmed about casualties or details. We're closely monitoring the situation. We're seeking additional information and are in close contact with Ukrainian authorities.

"We don't have any additional details at this point about any American citizens. We're of course looking for more information … and we will make [information] available as soon as we have it.

"I don't want to speculate on who's to blame or the causes – we don't have the information at this point."

"We don't have our own confirmation of details. I can't predict for you if or when we will."

Asked about whether the arms Russia is accused of supplying to rebels, and whether those types of weapons would are sophisticated enough to down a plane under the circumstances of the crash, Psaki said she inquire with officials.

At least 22 bodies at wreck site, according to an AP journalist, as more verified images come through the wires agencies.

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ABC's Moscow correspondent Kiri Radia relays part of a statement from Ukraine's foreign ministry.

Russian airline Transaero will avoid Ukrainian airspace, Reuters reports, joining Lufthansa an airliner reacting to news of thecrash.

"The airline Transaero decided to carry out all flights from this moment through third countries, avoiding the airspace of Ukraine," the company said in a statement, adding that flights had already been avoiding eastern Ukrainian territories.

Malaysian foreign ministry is "working closely" with Russian and Ukrainian governments, deputy foreign minister Hamzah Zainuddin has told Malaysian news agency Bernama, as Tania Branigan relays from Beijing.

Malaysian prime minister Najim Razak has tweeted that reports "shocked" him: "I am shocked by reports than an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation."

Verified photos from a Reuters photographer are starting to come in from Grabovo.

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My colleague Dan Milmo in London reports that it has been normal practice for airlines to fly over conflict zones since the Ukraine conflict began. He interviewed a pilot for a major European airline:

"We would often avoid areas where there is air-to-air conflict, but we flew over Iraq and Afghanistan when the British and US armed forces were delpoyed there, because only one side was using military jets."

Explaining why airlines fly over conflict zones where groups might be in possession of ground-to-air missiles, the pilot said: "There will be weapons based on the ground when you are at 30,000 feet, but that is far up in the air. There are not many missile systems that can be so accurate."

His comments suggest that assumptions about weapons capabilities on the ground will have to be reevaluated, pending investigation of the crash.

Lufthansa airlines will avoid east Ukrainian airspace immediately, Reuters snaps

In April, US flights were warned not to fly over conflict-ridden regions of eastern Ukraine by the FAA earlier this year.

The White House has confirmed that Obama and Putin spoke on the phone this morning to discuss new US sanctions, Paul Lews reports, but did not say whether the call occurred before or after reports of the crash emerged.

The Kremlin issued the following statement:

"The Russian leader informed the US president about information received just before the telephone call from aviation services about the crash of a Malaysian plane over Ukrainian territory."

Russian president Vladimir Putin has released a statement via the Kremlin website (Russian). It reads:

Vladimir Putin has expressed his deepest condolences to Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia with regard to the accident in Ukrainian territory of a Malaysian Airlines passenger aircraft, resulting in numerous casualties.

The Russian head of state asked him to convey his sincerest words of sympathy and support to families and friends of the victims.

We have a quick video report on the crash, with details as they currently stand.

Russia's UN envoy has denied any involvement, AFP reports.

"We didn't do it," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

Russian news outlet RIA Novosti reported that President Vladimir Putin has spoken with US President Barack Obama, but the US has not confirmed any such conversation.

Paul Lewis reports:

Barack Obama, who has just landed in Delaware, has been briefed about the airliner crash. His spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters on board Air Force One that the president had instructed his staff to keep him updated and make contact with senior Ukrainian officials.

Reuters, on the scene, has tweeted a photo of the crash site near Grabovo.

Aleksandr Borodai, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, has publicly denied rebel involvement in the crash, Alec Luhn reports.

Borodai tweeted (Russian) that the rebels were not involved in the attack. "According to initial information, the plane was shot down by Ukrainian air defence. The rebels don't have weapons with which they could shoot down a plane at 10,000 metres"

But the Donetsk People's Republic said in June its forces had captured Buk missiles from a Ukrainian military base, Itar-Tass news agency reported. The Buk missile has a range of 18,000 metres, according to some accounts.

The White House is in contact with Ukrainian officials, according to Reuters.

Paul Lewis in Washington, has comments from a senior US official on rebels' weapon capabilities.

On Wednesday, a senior official from Barack Obama's administration cited the shooting down of a Ukrainian jet earlier this week as evidence of Russia's escalating involvement in the conflict. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that the sophisticated weaponry that would have been required to down the transport jet, which was flying at high-altitude, on Monday, was likely to have been supplied across the Russian border.

Their full comments are below:

"Even in the face of all of this diplomacy that has been going on, and very high level efforts by us, and key members of the European Union - notably France, Germany and the UK - over the the past month the flow of heavy weapons and support for separatists from Russia has actually increased.

"You will have seen on social media over the last week convoys of Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry combat vehicles, grad rocket launchers, howitzers, self-propelled mortars, flowing into Ukraine. On 14 July the Ukrainian's lost an AN-26 transport jet which was shot down from an altitude of 21,000 feet with eight crew onboard. And only very sophisticated weapons systems would be able to reach this height."

Dozens of bodies and broken pieces of wing with MH17 colors have been found near the town of Grabovo, according to a Reuters correspondent.

Dozens of bodies were scattered around the smouldering wreckage of a passenger jet that crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, a Reuters reporter said.

An emergency services rescue worker said at least 100 bodies had so far been found at the scene, near the village of Grabovo, and that debris from the wreckage was scattered across an area up to about 15km (nine miles) in diameter.

Broken pieces of the wings were marked with blue and red paint – the same colours as the emblem of the Malaysian airline which lost track of a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was carrying almost 300 people.

President Poroshenko denies any Ukrainian military involvement, AP and Reuters report, responding to an accusation made by Aleksandr Borodai, a leader of the separatist camp.

"This is the third event in the last few days following An-26 and SU-25 planes being brought down. We do not exclude that this plane was also shot down and we stress that the armed forces of Ukraine did not carry out any action to destroy targets in the air," the press service said.

Earlier Thursday, Kiev accused Russia of involvement in downing aircraft.

Like Poroshenko, Malaysia's prime minister says he is launching an immediate probe into the reported crash.

Reuters is on the ground and has a correspondent near the wreck site.

Rebels claim not to have the capabilities to shoot down the Malaysia flight, Alec Luhn reports per Interfax's story.

Interfax news agency has quoted leaders of the self-declared Donetsk people's republic denying that the rebels shot down the Malaysian airlines plane. A reported member of the republic's security council said the rebels only have weapons able to shoot down a plane at 3,000 metres and blamed Ukrainian military forces for the attack. (The plane was reportedly flying at 10,000 metres).

But officials from Ukraine's defence ministry and national security council said the rebels have Buk surface-to-air missiles able to shoot down planes at such elevations and suggested one was used in the attack.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko called for the creation of a commission to investigate the accident.

"This is the third tragic incident in recent days after Ukrainian military An-26 and Su-25 jets were shot down from Russian territory. We don't rule out that this plane was also shot down, and we stress that the Ukrainian military didn't take any actions to destroy targets in the air," he said.

Separatist rebels in east Ukraine deny any involvement to Russian news agency Interfax, relays the New York Times' former Moscow correspondent Ellen Barry.

Malaysia's defence and acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein says his office will investigate via his Twitter feed:

*Correction: It is now Liow Tiong Lai, who is currently in Beijing, according to Malaysia's Bernama news agency.

Hishammuddin Hussein has urged calm.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, has written on Facebook (Russian) that "280 passengers and 15 members have died" in the crash, and that the plane was last recorded flying at 10,000 meters.

He links to an unverified video showing smoke rising in eastern Ukraine, and accuses militants of shooting down the plane: "A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system."

Malaysia Airlines has tweeted that it lost contact with MH17, as reported by Reuters.

A passenger jet belonging to Malaysia Airlines reportedly crashed in eastern Ukraine in an area where separatist rebels have been engaging Ukrainian Army forces in recent weeks.

The plane, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, apparently had 295 people on board and crashed near the town of Snezhnoe, according to a report from Interfax which could not immediately be confirmed.

A source in the Russian aviation industry told Reuters that the plane did not enter Russian airspace when expected and had indeed crashed in eastern Ukraine. Quoting an aviation source, Reuters also reported that burning wreckage was found.

In recent days the Ukrainian air force has lost planes in the area after they have been shot down by rebels. Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine accused Russia of downing one of its fighter jets inside Ukrainian territory.