Smoke rises above the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014.

Britain has asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis in Ukraine after a Malaysian airliner crashed in the rebel-held east, diplomats said Thursday.

The meeting is likely to take place on Friday, said a diplomatic source.

The Boeing 777 carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in an area near the Russian border.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s spokesman accused pro-Russian insurgents of downing the plane, but the rebels said it was shot down by an Ukrainian jet.

 
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