While the full details of the attack on MH17 remain unknown, shooting a surface-to-air missile at a civilian airliner flying over a war zone is most likely a violation of the law of war – by which the Ukrainian government, the Russian government, and the rebels are all bound. Indeed, the conflict in eastern Ukraine constitutes a non-international armed conflict (a war between a government and rebel movement) governed by international humanitarian law, which categorically bans the intentional targeting of civilians.