Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down in eastern Ukraine Thursday morning. The plane's flight path, sourced up to the final moments before its transponder stopped broadcasting location data, shows MH17 cutting clear through the country, over areas that have seen armed conflict in recent months. Our interactive map highlights some of these areas, and our ongoing coverage.
The flight path is noted in red, time markers in blue and conflict areas in yellow.
In March, tensions rose in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, home to both the Ukrainian navy and Russia's Black Sea fleet. See our photo gallery here.
On May 12, pro-Russia gunmen declared Donetsk a People's Republic after a hasty independence referendum, vowing to drive off Ukrainian separatist forces. Read about it here.
A day later, a Kiev-based regional governor dismissed Donetsk's referendum, and Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov vowed to continue the country's efforts against separatist "terrorists" in eastern Ukraine. Read about it here.
As unrest spread in early May, pro-Russia supporters set fire to banks and raided a police station in Mariupol. Watch the video here.
In June, a border guard camp in Luhansk was assaulted by hundreds of pro-Russia rebels, though Ukrainian nationalists ultimately succeeded in repelling the attack. Read about it here.