We&#x27;ll never know 100% but Ukraine controlled the air so only the rebels had motive to shoot down planes, and had bragged about it on social media.<p>It&#x27;s possible that Ukrainian forces or someone else had a conspiracy to frame the rebels (if you have a good conspiracy theory, Russian propaganda would love to hear it).  But this is very unlikely as it&#x27;s a high-risk, low pay-off strategy and even Russian leaders are usually not that evil or stupid.