The Malaysian Airlines plane burst into flames at 33,000ft as it was hit by a missile over Ukranian territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels.

Addressing the incident which claimed the lives of at least 9 Britons, 154 Dutch, 27 Australians, Putin said:

'This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in south-east Ukraine. And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.'

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However Ukranian authorities have blamed pro-Russian rebels who have been battling with Ukranian forces for the tragedy.

Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko labelled it as an act of terrorism as he called for an international investigation into the crash.

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Addressing the incident, U.S. Senator John McCain said there 'would be hell to pay' if the plane was shot down by the Russian military or separatists.

He said: "To leap to conclusions could be very embarrassing... But if it is the result of either separatist or Russian actions mistakenly believing this was a Ukrainian war plane, I think there's going to be hell to pay and there should be".