WASHINGTON, Oct 15 – The U.S. Department of State has said the report of the Dutch Safety Board on how Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine backs up U.S. findings that the plane was shot down by Russian backed militants, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.

"And from the very beginning, we have said that – and we had information that made clear to us that the general launch area was in separatist-held territory. And I think that that's supported by what the Dutch Safety Board has reported – that that area that they reported it coming from is the same area where we believed it came from at the time," he said at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday.