https://www.rferl.org/a/when-russia-.../30056279.html
The segment is part of a patchwork of evidence -- including news reports, social-media posts, and witness accounts -- showing that the Russia-backed separatists initially believed they had shot down an enemy aircraft -- and even boasted about doing so -- before the scale of the tragedy became clear. The victims – adults and children on a routine Boeing 777 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur -- included citizens of 17 countries.
At 5:50 p.m. Moscow time on July 17, 2014 -- around 30 minutes after air-traffic controllers lost contact with MH17 -- a post was published in the VKontakte forum under the headline “message from the resistance.”
"In the area of Torez, we have just shot down an An-26 airplane" -- an Antonov military transport plane. It added,
"We warned them -- don't fly 'in our sky,'" and said no civilians were injured after the “birdie fell.”