The plane, which is believed to have been flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 295 people on board, was travelling at an altitude of 10km (6.2 miles) when it was shot down, the Russian news agency Inferfax reported.
Ukraine's government confirmed that a Malaysian passenger airline crashed in the east of the country, close to Russian border. A presidential statement is expected to be released shortly.
The plane crashed in the war zone where Ukraine's government forces and Russia-backed separatists where two Ukrainian military planes had been shot down in the past week. Ukraine's government blamed Russia for it.
