A Malaysian Airlines flight on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Eastern Ukraine on Thursday. All of the 295 passengers and crew oboard are presumed dead. The crash occurred amidst a war-torn part of Ukraine in which pro-Russian separatist forces (backed by Russia) are at odds with the Western-backed Ukrainian loyalist forces. 

According to a Reuters report, Ukraine has wasted no time in accusing the pro-Russian militants of being responsible for the crash, even going so far as to label them as "terrorists." The Ukrainian government claims pro-Russian militants used a Russian-made SA-11 ground-to-air missile to shoot down MH-17 as it flew over what is reported to be a widely known air corridor for commercial flights. 

The area in question is currently governed by the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), who have denied complicity of any sort in the incident. Although an admission by the DPR military commander on Thursday that his military had brought down a Ukrainian military transport plane has led many to believe that MH-17 may have been brought down by the rebels by mistake. 

If the rebels did in fact shoot down a commercial airliner, it would mean a torrent of international pressure and outrage would be directed at the DPR and Russia, who is thought to be providing the rebels with arms.

To this point, Russia has refused to cease backing the Ukrainian rebels in the face of heavy international sanctions. However, if the rebels are to blame, this might be a turning point in Ukraine's civil war as Russia will be forced to end its support of a group capable of murdering nearly 300 innocent people. 

Journalists and citizens have arrived at the crash site and have reported on the horrific scene and posted photos to many social media accounts of the wreckage. One emergency responder claimed that no fewere than 100 bodies had already been found, and that debris from the wreckage is thought to cover an area over about 9 miles. 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko today declared "MH-17 is not an incident or catastrophe, it is a terrorist attack."

Poroshenko has recently ramped up his military efforts against pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine after a ceasefire last month did not achieve any results. 

So far all three sides in the conflict, the Ukrainians, the pro-Russian rebels and the Russians, are claiming their own innocence. The rebels have stated that they do not possess the weapons necessary to bring down a plane flying at above 30,000 feet.

Though, a rebel commander did announce half an hour before the last reported contact with the downed Malaysian plane that his forces had shot down an Antonov An-26 in the same region as MH-17's last know location.

The rebel commander's announcement came on a Russian social media site and has since been deleted. 

This is the second tragic loss for Malaysia Airlines this year after MH370 disappeared in March without a trace.

MH370 was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished mysteriously from radar while carrying 239 passengers.