U.S. calls for Russia to acknowledge role in MH-17 shootdown

FILE PHOTO: Dutch police officer Wilbert Paulissen, head of the National Crime Squad, is pictured next to a damaged missile as he presents interim results in the ongoing investigation of the 2014 MH17 crash that killed 298 people over eastern Ukraine, during a news conference by members of the Joint Investigation Team, comprising the authorities from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, in Bunnik, Netherlands, May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday joined calls for Russia to account for its role in the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Flight MH-17 over eastern Ukraine.

"It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH-17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement that blamed Russian aggression in Ukraine for more than 10,300 deaths.