Bellingcat claims to have identified a Russian intelligence officer who was in charge of the antiaircraft missile unit that shot down flight MH17 over Ukraine.

The cited phone discussion, about plans to shoot down Ukrainian military planes, confirms that Russia did not intentionally attack a civilian airliner. That makes the incident comparable to the one in which a US ship in the Persian Gulf shot down an Iranian airliner. mistaking it it for an attacking military plane. The US acknowledged the mistake, somewhat reluctantly.