Russian Defence Ministry satellite image, MH17 briefing

A satellite image shown at a Russian Defence Ministry press briefing four days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard. It marks two Buk launchers near the village of Zaroshchenske as Ukrainian. The same briefing also pointed to a Ukrainian Su-25 jet near the airliner, and Russian officials and state media put forward further accounts that contradicted each other over the following years.

Date: July 21, 2014
Period: Contemporary
Made by: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
Region: Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Country: Russia
Medium: Document
Issuer type: Military
Regime: Putin Government
Leader: Vladimir Putin
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Deceive or deny
Themes: Media and information, War and the military
Event: War in Donbas
Techniques: Firehosing
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 27, 2026
Rights: CC BY 4.0 (mil.ru)
Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (mil.ru), CC BY 4.0.

Text on the object

Original (Russian) · read from the image, not independently checked

5

ЗАРОЩЕНСКОЕ

ТЕХНИКА ЗРК "БУК-М1" В РАЙОНЕ ЗАРОЩЕНСКОЕ
УКРАИНА, ДОНЕЦКАЯ ОБЛ., 50 КМ ВОСТ. ДОНЕЦК, 8 КМ ЮЖ. ШАХТЕРСК
СШ=47-59-00 ВД=038-27-05 H=+174 М X=+5316831 Y=+7459057
17 июля 2014 г. 11:32

А

2 самоходные огневые установки ЗРК "Бук-М1"

Б

1 ед. бронетехники

224 м.

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

5

ZAROSHCHENSKE

EQUIPMENT OF THE "BUK-M1" SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SYSTEM IN THE AREA OF ZAROSHCHENSKE
UKRAINE, DONETSK REGION, 50 KM EAST OF DONETSK, 8 KM SOUTH OF SHAKHTERSK
N=47-59-00 E=038-27-05 H=+174 M X=+5316831 Y=+7459057
17 July 2014, 11:32

A

2 self-propelled launchers of the "Buk-M1" SAM system

B

1 unit of armoured vehicle

224 m.

'5' is a frame/slide number printed in a circle at the top left, from the briefing deck this image was taken from. Grid coordinate abbreviations (СШ/ВД = latitude/longitude, H = height) and the map-scale figure ('224 m.', beside a small triangle north-arrow-style marker) are reproduced as printed.