Spokesman: Plane punctured by shrapnel
By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press
Jul 28, 2014 4:58 AM CDT
A Donetsk People's Republic APC travels in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Sunday, July 27, 2014. Ukrainian armed forces mounted a major onslaught against pro-Russian separatist fighters Sunday in an attempt to gain control over the area where a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed earlier this month....   (Associated Press)

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian security spokesman says data from the recovered flight data recorders shows Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed due to a massive, explosive loss of pressure after being punctured multiple times by shrapnel.

National security spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Monday the plane suffered "massive explosive decompression" after it was hit by fragments he said came from a missile.

The data recorders were sent to experts in Britain for examination.

Flight 17 went down on July 17 as it flew from Amsterdam toward Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people aboard died. The U.S. and Ukrainian governments say it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by armed pro-Russian separatists, probably by mistake.

The separatists deny shooting down the plane; Russia says the Ukrainian military may have shot it down.

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