An armed pro-Russian separatist stands on part of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, in this July 17, 2014 file picture.

Dutch prosecutors have said for the first time that they have found possible parts of a BUK missile system at the site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down last year, killing all 298 people on board.

Prosecutors say in a statement Tuesday the parts "are of particular interest to the criminal investigation as they can possibly provide more information about who was involved in the crash of MH17."

Prosecutors have previously said they are treating a missile strike as the most likely scenario, but Tuesday's announcement was the first time they have described possible physical evidence of a missile.

However, they cautioned that the conclusion cannot yet be drawn "that there is a causal connection between the discovered parts and the crash of flight MH17."

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