DAY1 JUL17

On July 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. As confused first reports came in, Ukraine blamed Russia for the tragedy before the news even broke on CNN. A message falsely attributed to a rebel commander went viral. The head of Ukraine’s intelligence agency presented alleged phone taps of rebels discussing the plane. John McCain falsely claimed Ukraine was incapable of shooting down the plane. News stations spoke of lower-flying military aircraft the rebels had shot down previously and discussed whether they had capability to reach aircraft at 10,000 feet. With the information war adding to the ground war already raging in Ukraine, the difficult task of retrieving the bodies and wreckage from a war zone began.