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
![Passengers' belongings are pictured at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 before a visit by OSCE monitors, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 18, 2014.](https://gdb.voanews.com/D8FA3842-B45F-4AA3-ADEF-0A553140C86D_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
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Passengers' belongings are pictured at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 before a visit by OSCE monitors, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 18, 2014.
![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.