MH17 Recovery Begins, Russian Image Debunked

Amateur video of the immediate aftermath of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 surfaced over the weekend as Dutch authorities were finally able to start removing the thoroughly disturbed wreckage. Meanwhile, as the trucks and cranes were getting ready to move in, Russia's state-run television showed an image purported to show a Ukrainian fighter jet firing a missile in the direction of a large two-engine airliner over the area in which MH17 was shot down in July. That image has been widely debunked as a crude Photoshop attempt to deflect criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 meeting in Australia, where Russia's involvement in Ukraine was the dominant theme.

In the cellphone video, which was obtained by The Associated Press Sunday, stunned villagers literally walk out of their homes to the crash scene, where burning debris sent clouds of black smoke into the air. The debris recovery began Sunday and human remains were mixed in with the twisted metal. The Dutch are overseeing the operation but had to agree to have workers from the rebel Donetsk People's Republic do much of the actual work of cutting up the aircraft parts and loading them on trucks. The debris is being taken back to the Netherlands for examination as part of the investigation into the cause. There doesn't appear to be much credence given the Russian television "proof" that a Ukraine fighter brought the aircraft down. In fact, so many issues were brought up on the image (it shows a 767 instead of a 777, the location is wrong and the fighter is wrong, to name a few) that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop almost seemed to be embarrassed for the Russians. "So, if that is another attempt by Russia to blameUkraine for what is clearly, in our mind, from the evidence that we've seen, a matter involving Russia, then it's a pretty sad state of affairs," she said.