A passenger jet has reportedly crashed in eastern Ukraine in an area where separatist rebels have been engaging Ukrainian military forces in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said 280 passengers and 15 crew were on board.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, apparently crashed near the town of Snizhe, according to a report from Interfax news agency which could not immediately be confirmed. Other reports suggested it had crashed close to the nearby town of Torez.

Malaysia Airlines said via its Twitter feed: "Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."

A source in the Russian aviation industry told Reuters that the plane did not enter Russian airspace when expected and had crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, wrote on his Facebook page that the plane had crashed in Ukrainian territory after being hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. Associated Press said one of its journalists had seen a similar launcher near the town of Snizhne earlier on Thursday.

In recent days the Ukrainian air force has lost planes in the area after they have been shot down by rebels. Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine accused Russia of downing one of its fighter jets inside Ukrainian territory.

Sources among the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic said they were not linked to the downing of the plane and suspected Ukrainian forces of being involved, according to comments carried by Russian news agencies.

The report of the crash comes four months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, two-thirds of them Chinese citizens. It has yet to be found despite a massive international search, which is still ongoing, but Malaysia Airlines has said it believes everyone on board died when the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.

The cause of MH370's disappearance remains a mystery, with investigators suggesting the plane was deliberately diverted from its course, but there was no way of knowing whether the pilots were responding to an emergency or whether there was malicious intent.

That aircraft was a Boeing-777 – the same kind of plane as flight MH17.

据英国《卫报》报道，有报道称一架客机在乌克兰东部地区坠毁。该地区是乌克兰分裂叛乱分子在近几周与乌克兰军队交战的地区。

乌克兰官员的Anton Gerashchenko称，机上有280名乘客和15名机组成员。

据俄罗斯文传电讯社的报道，这架飞机属于马来西亚航空公司，从阿姆斯特丹飞行科伦坡，但坠落在Snizhe镇附近。目前无法对此予以确认。另有报道称，这架客机坠落的地点接近于Torez镇附近。

马来西亚航空通过推特称：“马来西亚与从阿姆斯特丹起飞的MH17航班推动联络。最后知道的位置是在乌克兰领空。随后将公布更多信息。”

俄罗斯航空业的消息人士对路透社称，这架飞机原本要进入俄罗斯领空，但并没有，最后坠毁在乌克兰东部。

乌克兰内政部顾问Gerashchenk在其Facebook上写道，马航飞机遭到由Buk发射车发射的导弹击中。美联社称其一位记者曾于17日早上在Snizhne镇附近看到类似的导弹发射车。

据俄罗斯新闻机构的评论，自称为顿涅茨克人民共和国（Donetsk People's Republic）的消息人士称，他们与马航客机坠毁事件没有关系，同时怀疑乌克兰政府军与此有关。

马航这架飞机坠毁事件的四个月前，马航的MH370航班载有239名乘客在从科伦坡飞往北京的途中失踪。其中乘客中有三分之二是中国公民。尽管有大规模的国 际搜救工作并还在进行之中，目前仍然没有找到这架飞机。不过，马航曾表示其相信航班里的所有人都在飞机坠入到南印度洋时遇难。

MH370的失踪原因仍然是个谜，而调查人员称飞机是有意偏离航道的，不过，无法知道飞行员是否对于紧急事件作出了反应或是带有恶意为之。

失踪的飞机的机型为波音777，与MH17航班的机型是一样的。