On Tuesday Oct. 13, Dutch officials announced their findings on the events that transpired on July of last year over Ukrainian airspace. The Dutch Safety Board (DBS) underwent an extensive investigation and was able to confirm that flight MH17 of Malaysian Airlines was shot out of the sky with a Buk missile.

On July 17th flight MH17 was taking a commercial trip from Amsterdam to Malaysia with 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. During this time, the Ukraine was undergoing a civil crisis, fighting Russian backed separatists. As a result, a flight safety zone of at least 32,000 feet was to be maintained in order to ensure the safety of commercial airlines in this region. However, this was inadequate  because the surface-to-air missile that was used to shoot down flight MH17 could easily reach altitudes of 80,000 feet.

In a speech regarding the issue, President Barack Obama stated that the missile was “launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine.” Neither Russia nor the Ukraine are willing to take responsibility and are denying all claims against them, despite evidence to suggest that the missile was launched from Russian Federation airspace and that the missile was Russian made. However, no conclusive evidence has been presented to condemn either country at this time.

The DBS determined that the missile detonated a meter from the cockpit of the plane, which flung shrapnel into the cockpit, killing the pilots and causing the cockpit to detach from the rest of the plane. It is believed that the passengers either died from the initial impact of the missile or suffocated from an inability to use the oxygen masks as the plane lost altitude.

The end result of this event is a tragedy. 298 lives were lost, regardless of whether it was the Russians or the Ukrainians who launched the missile. The people killed were not even from the Ukraine. These people were simply just trying to go from one place to another. Civilian lives are too frequently taken in times of war and simply written off as collateral damage. This was no accident either, these lives were deliberately taken by either militant group. A Boeing 777 does not resemble a military plane, nor does it pose any military threat making a commercial flight.

The most haunting part of this ordeal is that it was entirely preventable. The Ukraine was a battle ground. Its skies should not have been utilized as a pathway for commercial flights, even if safety measures were put in place. Both sides were heavily armed, a 32,000 foot high regulation could not defend against that. Malaysian airlines should have been more cautious with their passengers and crews lives, especially just 4 months prior to this event they lost another one of their aircraft, flight MH370.

Whether it was Russia or Ukraine that shot down flight MH17, it does not matter. 298 people are dead and nothing can change that.