Ukrainian authorities have released what they claim are telephone conversations between rebels in the east and the Russian military that they had intercepted hours after the crash.

The Ukraine Security Service put the conversations up on YouTube hours after the crash, the BBC reported. The conversations assume significance amid growing international pressure on Russia to take responsibility for the crash.

The recording's authenticity has not yet been independently verified, but the conversations appear to be between the rebel group's commander, Igor Bezler, identified as 'Bes' in the audio recording, and Vasyl Geranin, a Russian military intelligence officer.

In the recording, Bezler confirms that the militant faction had shot a “100% civilian aircraft.” The video below carries the transcript of their conversation in Russian.


The militants themselves pulled social media posts celebrating the shooting down of the plane before they discovered it was a civilian airliner.