Prosecutors say the one Ukrainian and three Russian defendants, who are still at large, supplied the missile system that was used to shoot down the plane on July 17, 2014, killing the 298 people on board. The prosecution is seeking life terms for all four defendants.

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over the Donetsk region. Authorities of Ukraine and some Western countries believed that Russia and separatists in eastern Ukraine are behind this incident. Moscow denied any involvement, claiming the plane was hit by a missile fired from an area controlled by Ukrainian government troops.

In June, 2019, a Joint Investigation Team consisting of investigative authorities from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, and Ukraine, conducted a criminal investigation into the incident.