Trump: Russia ‘probably’ behind downing of MH17

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was likely shot down by Russian-backed separatists.

{mosads}”They say it wasn’t them,” Trump said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday. “It may have been their weapon, but they didn’t use it. They didn’t fire it. They even said the [other] side fired it to blame them.

“To be honest with you, you’ll probably never know for sure. It was probably Russia. It was probably people involved on the pro-Russia side,” he added.

Russian officials have denied shooting down the plane, which was carrying 295 people, since it crashed over Ukraine in July 2014.

Dutch officials confirmed on Tuesday that a Russian-made missile downed the commercial airplane, which Trump said makes him believe Russia was behind the attack.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over a disputed area of Ukraine during a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Amsterdam. All of the passengers and crew onboard the flight, include one U.S. citizen, died in the crash. 

U.S. and Ukraine officials have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of supplying the weapons that were used to shoot down the airplane, but Putin has denied responsibility for the attack.

Trump said Wednesday that it would be hard for the U.S. to definitively prove Russia was responsible for the jetliner attack, which he called “terrible.”  

“I think it’s horrible, but they’re saying it wasn’t them,” he said. “The other side says it is them. And we go through that argument probably for 50 years and nobody is ever going to know.”

Trump said he does not support the U.S. retaliating for the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 attack, despite the fact that a U.S. citizen was killed in the jetliner’s crash. 

“Probably was Russia, but at the same time, it’s a long ways away,” he said.

“We have to get back to making America great again. … We have to do something. We just can’t fight with everybody,” Trump added.