&gt;Why not put responsibility with the group that fired the missile? This is victim blaming.<p>the rebels were constantly attacked from the air. They were shooting back using what was available to them - MANPADs and once they captured it in June - BUKs. It is obvious from their celebratory tweets first half-an-hour after shooting down the MH-17 that they were thinking it was one more military transport plane of Ukraine.<p>Ukraine was using air forces for ground attacks. Obviously they should have closed the airspace, especially after their BUK systems were captured by rebels. That Ukraine was using air forces and that their planes were being shot down by SAMs more powerful than MANPADS was well known as well as it was reported in international news sources too (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;world-europe-28299334" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;world-europe-28299334</a>). So airlines shouldn&#x27;t have been flying there even without Ukraine failing to close the airspace.