Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine was believed to be carrying 295 people, reports the Telegraph. According to Interfax news agency, the Boeing 777 Malaysian passenger plane has crashed in Ukraine, near the Russian border. It appears that the passenger plane got entangled in the brewing rift between Russia and Ukraine as the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine clearly shows.

According to a Ukrainian official, the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine occurred Thursday over a town in the east of the country. Reporting further confirmation is Malaysian Airlines tweeting that it lost contact with one of its flights over the Ukrainian airspace.

The Twitter post said the airlines "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."

An aviation source told Interfax, 'A Boeing Malaysian Airlines that was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur began to descend about 50km before entering Russian airspace, and was subsequently found burning on the ground in Ukraine.'

The Ministry of Defense said that the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine was probably due to missiles fired by an aircraft patrolling the border.

Adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, Anton Gerashenko, said on his Facebook page that the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. These types of launchers reportedly can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).

According to the Wall Street Journal, while the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine happened, the plane was carrying 295 passengers and crew. The Malaysian plane crashed as it was flying over the east Ukraine region of Donetsk.

Ukraine made the accusation Thursday that Russia's armed forces had the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine through one of its fighter jets as the passenger plane was flying over Ukrainian territory.

According to the WSJ, this charge marks the most direct accusation made by Kiev of Moscow's involvement in the separatist rift going on east of the country.

President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine said that his country's armed forces did not shoot at any airborne targets. 'We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets. We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible.'

He also described the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine as an act of terrorism, hence calling for an international investigation into the crash.

Meanwhile, CBS Local reports that separatist rebels in the Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city, have denied responsibility for the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine.

Deputy prime minister for the rebels, Andrei Purgin, told The Associated Press the plane must have been shot down by Ukrainian government troops. However, he was not able to provide proof for his statement.

According to Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, an investigation would commence immediately.

Huib Gorter, Malaysian Airlines senior vice president in Europe confirmed at least 154 Dutch citizens on the flight. Also in the plane were 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, including all 15 crew and 11 Indonesians.

Gorter added that so far, other nationalities identified were six from the United Kingdom, four from Germany, four Belgians, three from the Philippines and one Canadian. Nationalities of the other 47 passengers dead have not yet been confirmed.

In lieu of the investigation, security services of Ukraine have produced what they described as two intercepted telephone conversations. It allegedly showed rebels were responsible for the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine.

The first call have been identified by security services as rebel commander Igor Bezler telling a Russian military intelligence officer that rebel forces shot down a plane.

The second call was allegedly of two rebel fighters, one of which was at the scene of the crash, saying that the rocket attack was done by a unit of insurgents 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the crash site.

In the meantime, neither of the recordings could be verified independently.

Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine is the second time that a Malaysia Airlines plane had gone missing over the span of less than six months. A Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared also in March. The plane was on its way to Beijing coming from Kuala Lumpur. The missing plane has still not been found, but the search continues, and now it concentrates in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.

According to the Donetsk region government, the area where the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine is currently under the reign of armed pro-Russian separatists. The AP also reports that on Thursday, their journalists located near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne have seen a launcher similar to the Buk missile system.

Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine proves further unrest between Ukraine and Russian forces and it appears the conflict will not end soon. According to reports, notices posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website has warned U.S. pilots earlier not to fly over portions of the Ukraine in the Crimea region this year. The U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization and other aviation authorities in most countries have reportedly issued similar notices for areas with military conflict, since risk of being shot down are extremely high.

Footage of the Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine have been uploaded via YouTube. Though the footage could not be independently verified, it shows smoke rising into the sky from the scene where the plane crashed.