A plane with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine today after being reportedly shot down.
The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 flight went down near the Russian border after it was allegedly hit by a BUK surface-to-air missile at 33,000ft.
It is thought all passengers and crew on board were killed. Whitehall officials have this evening stated up to 15 Britons may have been on the aircraft.
Flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when radar contact was lost over territory near Donetsk which is held by pro-Russian rebels.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a robust denial that his forces were involved while pro-Russian rebels also denied shooting down the plane and blamed the Ukrainian air force.
A Malaysia Airlines official has confirmed the plane has crashed. The company also tweeted to say that they lost contact with MH17 after it took off from Amsterdam and its last known location was over Ukrainian airspace.
They posted on Twitter: "Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."
Footage was uploaded to YouTube showing the smoking wreckage in a residential area, while plumes of black smoke can be seen in the background.
There has been firing in the region earlier today when a Ukrainian war plane was shot down.
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