The crew were all Malaysians, while the passengers were of various nationalities, most from the Netherlands. Several Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) aircraft had been shot down over the rebel-controlled territory before the MH17 incident. Immediately after the crash, a post appeared on the VKontakte social media profile attributed to Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbas separatist militia, claiming responsibility for shooting down a Ukrainian An-26 military transporter near Torez.[20] The post was removed later the same day, and the separatists then denied shooting down any aircraft.[21][22][23]