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Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the Malaysian Airlines tragedy that claimed the lives of all 298 people on board, including around 100 children - but didn't deny Russian-backed separatists were to blame for shooting it out of the sky. Flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, exploded into flames at 33,000ft as it was hit by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile over territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels.