Here's some details from RFE/RL's report on Bellingcat's latest findings with respect to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:
Bellingcat Report Says Russian Buk 322 Shot Down Flight MH17
A team of open-source researchers investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says it has positively identified a Russian Buk missile launcher that shot down the plane.
A report released late on May 3 by Bellingcat, an independent team of British investigators, says flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014 by Buk self-propelled missile launcher 322 from Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade of Kursk.
Using photographs posted online since 2010 by members of Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade, Bellingcat experts matched seven unique characteristics of the Russian Buk M1 self-propelled missile launcher that was photographed in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
Those features included partially obscured identification numbers, the font and exact spacing of the digits, wheel types, a dent in the left side panel, the arrangement of cable connections to the missile launcher, white marks on both sides of the vehicle, and the shape and size of oil and soot deposits near the exhaust.
It says Buk 322 had all seven features and was the only possible candidate for identification that had even one feature in common with the Russian Buk photographed in eastern Ukraine just before the plane was shot down.
A Bellingcat report in February linked higher-ups in Russia's military chain of command to the missile attack that killed all 298 people on board the civilian passenger plane.
Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine responded to the latest Bellingcat report by denying the presence of any Russian air defense crews in territory under their control at any time, including the time the Malaysian jetliner was shot down.
The Kremlin also denies that it has sent any Russian military units into eastern Ukraine to support the separatists.
It says all Russian soldiers who have been killed or captured by Ukrainian government forces there have been volunteers.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Kyiv has evidence of Russian troops and equipment crossing into eastern Ukraine despite a shaky cease-fire deal brokered in Minsk.
Kyiv also says Russian now has more than 30,000 soldiers deployed in eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russia separatists there.
With reporting by BBC and Interfax
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with a few tweets that caught our eye overnight:
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Tuesday, May 3. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Flower Politics: In Moscow, No Wreath For 'Hero City' Kyiv Ahead of Victory Day
By Tom Balmforth
MOSCOW -- Every year as Russia gears up to commemorate Victory Day on May 9, flowers are laid outside the Kremlin walls at a memorial to the twelve "Hero Cities" whose inhabitants' outstanding heroism fighting Nazi Germany during World War II earned them honorary Soviet titles.
But bloggers have latched onto an apparent omission this year at the site, part of Moscow's Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier memorial: No basket of flowers has been laid at the monument to Kyiv.
The flower ensembles placed in front of the other Hero Cities looked official, although it was unclear if they had been placed there by Kremlin groundskeepers, city workers, or activists.
Some speculated the omission was a deliberate nod to hostile relations between Moscow and Kyiv, with Russia-backed separatists continuing to fight Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine two years after a popular uprising that ousted Ukraine's Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych.
By contrast, the memorial to the Ukrainian city of Odesa, also a Soviet Hero City, was festooned with flowers.
Read more of Tom's story here.
U.S. Defense Secretary Backs German Plan To Send Troops To Lithuania
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has given his backing to German plans to send troops to Lithuania to reassure NATO’s Eastern European allies wary of a resurgent Russia.
"I do think it is important. But that is a decision Germany will make in the context of NATO," Carter said on May 3 in the southern German city of Stuttgart, shortly after overseeing the changeover of United States European Command's (EUCOM) top general.
The German Defense Ministry has signaled its willingness to deploy a rotating contingent of between 150 and 200 soldiers to Lithuania. They would lead a broader alliance of soldiers with the intention of strengthening combat capability along NATO's eastern flank.
"Russia continues to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and actually seeks to intimidate its Baltic neighbors," Carter said.
"We don't seek a cold -- let alone a hot -- war with Russia. We don't seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: We will defend our allies," he added.
A decision regarding the German deployment will be made at a NATO summit in Warsaw on June 8-9.