This report examines the circumstances surrounding the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). The report considers several factors that lead investigators to believe that the plane may have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from a Buk road-mobile missile erector-launcher, including the type of damage directly sustained by the plane, the large debris field, the crash's proximity to an active conflict zone in which military aircraft had recently been shot down and U.S. intelligence that detected a missile launch from the area around the time the plane was overhead.

This report addresses the NATO and U.S. military response to the crisis in Ukraine. It does not discuss political, economic, or energy policy responses.