Kiev - Black boxes recovered from downed Malaysia Airlines
flight MH17 in rebel-held east Ukraine show shrapnel from a rocket explosion
caused the passenger jet to crash, a Ukrainian security official said on Monday.
International investigators "indicated that data from
flight recorders show that the reason for the destruction and crash of the
plane was massive explosive decompression arising from multiple shrapnel
perforations from a rocket explosion," Andriy Lysenko, spokesperson for
Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said.
Data from the doomed airliner's black boxes was decrypted in
Britain after being handed over to Malaysian officials by pro-Russian rebels
controlling the crash site of MH17.
Investigators leading the probe in the Netherlands - which
lost 193 citizens on the doomed jet - refused to confirm the latest information
from Kiev, saying that they were "waiting to get a more complete idea of
what happened".
Kiev and its Western allies have accused insurgents of
shooting down the plane, killing all 298 people on board.
