The Kremlin-funded TV news channel Russia Today aired on Wednesday (22 October) MH17 – The Untold Story, a documentary exploring the possibility the Malaysia Airlines flight could have been shot down by a military aircraft.

The programme counters Western opinion that pro-Russian separatists are to blame for the downing of the plane over Eastern Ukraine on 17 July which caused the deaths of 298 passengers including 80 children.

It also comes as Germany's federal intelligence service (BND) blamed the rebels for the incident, the first time a European agency has openly done so. It told a parliamentary committee last week that evidence, including satellite images, suggested the Boeing 777 flight was downed by a surface-to-air BUK missile fired by the insurgents.

Definitive answers behind the tragedy may never be found as international experts are prevented from carrying out a full investigation as civil war continues to ravage the region - leaving evidence such as the plane's wreckage and eye-witness accounts to piece together what really happened.

"The film attempts to establish what might have brought down the ill-fated airliner and all 298 people aboard," RT's website said.

In MH17 – The Untold Story, witnesses claim to have seen a second aircraft that could have shot down the plane.

"I lifted my head and saw a small military aircraft in the sky. So I'm 100% sure there was a second aircraft," said one man.

Another said: "Aircraft MH17 was crippled by an air-to-air missile, and as it descended, it was finished off by cannon fire."

One woman told RT: "There was a clear sound of another plane flying away".

The rebels have always denied any involvement despite a powerful pro-Russian commander posting on Vkontakte - Russia's equivalent to Facebook - apparently taking responsibility for the attack. He wrote: "We warned them not to fly in our sky," which was later deleted.

Russia blames Ukrainian forces for downing the plane and says that a Ukrainian fighter jet was flying near the MH17 aircraft before the crash, claims the BND also rejected as false.

Justice for MH17

On 17 July, 154 Dutch nationals lost their lives as well as 43 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, nine UK nationals, four Germans and one Belgian. Three people from the Philippines, one from Canada and 43 others have not yet been verified.

Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who lost his step-grandmother in the tragedy, said he will continue to find justice for those who lost their lives on MH17 while visiting Perth on Wednesday.

Of the 42 Malaysians recovered from the wreckage, he said: "There's only one missing, and that's my step-grandmother."

When asked what he thought about Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "shirtfont" comments towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said fingerpointing was excerbating an already complex issue.

"To complicate that with finger-pointing - I would leave it to the criminal investigation committee," he said.

"We will find justice for MH17.

"How we find that justice must be detached from any other geo-political consideration."