A Malaysian Airlines plane crashed into eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border Thursday.

Malaysia Airlines says it lost contact with Flight 17 early Thursday, it reported on its Twitter account:

CNN reports that a Ukrainian official is saying that the flight, which was flying at 33,000 feet, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile operated by militants:

The aircraft was "shot down" over Ukraine by "terrorists" operating a Buk surface-to-air missile system, according to the Facebook page of Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. There were 280 passengers killed as well as 15 crew members, Gerashchenko's post reads.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has ordered an immediate investigation into the "catastrophe," while the eastern Ukraine separatist leader Alexander Borodai is blaming Ukrainian forces, a charge Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vehemently denied.

In a statement Thursday, Poroshenko stressed that Ukrainians Armed Forces "did not take action against any airborne targets," and vowed that "those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."

Video footage of the aftermath via the Daily Mail: