Central to the issue is the motive for the disclosure, which had been described as “premature” by stunned Dutch authorities. They have slammed Ukraine for releasing information “too early” and are at a loss as to how Kiev got the data.

Ukraine had, on Monday, said analysis of the data from the two black boxes, currently in Farnborough, the United Kingdom, showed that shrapnel, believed to have been from a missile, had brought down the Boeing 777-200ER, registration number 9M-MRD, on July 17 with the loss of all 298 lives on board.

Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) was tasked with retrieving important data from the recovered flight recorders. The AAIB began downloading information from the black boxes on July 23. It was expected to announce its findings on Friday.