Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is now calling it an act of terrorism. Speaking to media agencies, Poroshenko said the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crew were in contact with air traffic controllers in Kiev before communications were suddenly cut off.

"We are not calling it an accident or a disaster., but an act of terrorism,"  Poroshenko announced.

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Other Ukrainian officials said they have recordings of phone calls between separatist rebels in the east talking about "shooting down" the aircraft.

UPDATE: Malaysia Airlines Europe has released the following breakdown of nationalities among 283 passengers on board Flight MH17: Dutch, 154; Malaysian, 43; Australian, 27; Indonesian, 12; United Kingdom, 9; Germany, 4; Belgium, 4; Philippines,3; Canada, 1.

All of the 15 crew members were Malaysian. The nationalities of 39 other passengers are still being verified.

Meanwhile, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has confired that they know of four  French citizens who were on board.

Emergencies ministry authorities are still in the process of identifying the other victims.

Witnesses interviewed by agencies with journalists on the scene say they saw the plane explode in midair, and then come down with a crashing explosion.

Amateur video is now circulating on YouTube showing flames exploding when the plane impacted the ground. The plane went down at approximately 4:20 p.m. local time.

As dark fell on the crash site, it was not clear who was controlling response operations. The area is controlled by separatists and Ukrainian officials say they couldn't just go in unless there is an assurance that the rebels would not be shooting at them.

A diplomat from the United Kingdom has requested a meeting by the United Nations Security Council to discuss response to the crash, but no meeting has been scheduled so far.

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that nine British citizens were on board the Boeing 777 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The Ukrainian foreign ministry has reportedly said there were 23 Americans on board, and 80 children.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said his government is working to determine whether there were American citizens in the crashed plane.

Meanwhile, the plane "black box" that may provide clues as the cause of the crash was earlier reported to have been in the hands of separatist rebels in the area of the crash.

The rebels are now denying the critical piece of equipment is in their possession.