It was Russian soldiers who were operating a BUK missile launcher seen in the area inside Ukraine, where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in July.

This is according to statements by three eyewitnesses interviewed on BBC’s Panorama.

The Kremlin had stood by its position that the missile that shot down MH17 was from a Ukrainian fighter jet, and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have repeatedly denied any possession of a BUK missile launcher, even when various photographs and video have cast doubts on their statements.

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In the BBC interview, three civilian eyewitnesses separately said they saw a missile launcher inside rebel-controlled territory a few hours before news of the downing of Flight MH17 started circulating in the area.

One witness related having seen the missile launcher rolling off a loader at around 1:30 p.m. local time, at Snezhnoye, about 10 miles away from the crash site. The witness said when the BUK launcher started its engine, smoke from its exhaust filled the whole town square.

The witness said the crew struck him distinctively as Russian soldiers who showed military discipline unlike the rebels, and did not wear the Ukrainian camouflage uniforms being sported at that time by both rebels and government troops alike.

Although most people in eastern Ukraine speak Russian, the witness said the BUK crew did not speak with a local accent.

“They had pure Russian accents. They say the letter “g” differently to us,” he said. A second witness said he heard an officer on a military jeep escorting the BUK launcher speak with a Muscovite accent.

No one has claimed responsibility for the tragedy that struck Flight MH17 and killed all of the 298 passengers and crew on board, although phone conversations recorded and released by Ukrainian intelligence point to a group of rebels controlled by Russian handlers bragging about having shot down a Ukrainian military aircraft.

Online social media posts from rebel commanders also boasted about shooting down a Ukrainian plane. The posts were deleted after news of the downing of Flight MH17 started playing on TV and radio in the area.