grid, we would be doing more with less on a scale that would absolutely change the world. >> a big hope for the future. >> you have to be optimistic. you have to think these problems are solvable or you won't solve them. >> one small step for man -- >> to remind everybody, peel went to the moon. so we can do this. and working together, we can make cities the most productive part of human civilization. we can change the world. >> we don't exactly know what the city of tomorrow will look like. there are a lot of people working on a lot of solutions to a lot of problems. what we do know is that the need to create the city of tomorrow is powering the pulse of the innovation today. hello. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm fredricka whitfield.

here are the big stories we're following in the cnn newsroom. a probably rebel russian leader is responding to allegations that his fighter shot down the plane over eastern ukraine. the rebel leader said he believes the flight was shot down but denies his forces did it. you can see right here in the blue shirt. he told reporters the rebels lack the fire power to hit an airplane that high up. but british prime minister david cameron said the european union needs to reconsider its approach to russia. cameron says evidence points to the rebels as the ones who fired a russian-made buk missile at flight 17. earlier malaysian airlines issued their latest list of the 298 people from 12 nations who were on board that flight. we've learned that 80 children are among the victims. as well as some top hiv aids researchers, students and a malaysian actress, her husband and baby. the victims came from around the world and had all kinds of hopes

and dreams. the victims of flight 17 taken down instantly, senselessly. their personal belongings spread for miles, in fact, across scorched metal and scarred earth. phil black has more. >> reporter: this is where mh17 scoured the earth with the greatest force and heat. the wreckage that struck here was big. both at the boeing 777's engines and wings, it is likely this is where the fuel load burned off as well. the blaze so intense, metal components melted into the ground. down the road, other big pieces of the aircraft marked the farming landscape. but the smaller debris here also holds real power. some of the common place possessions of travelers everywhere. there is also the more personal. giving little insights into the lives of those who fell with the plane. these were people from around the world with no connection to

ukraine's conflict. but their bodies now lie across this war zone. their positions are marked with sticks and white cloth. most of the injuries are too terrible to show or even talk about. pro russian militants are in control here. some show curiosity but there is no obvious intention of quickly recovering the bodies or securing the aircraft. this is a strange, eerie experience walking through the debris field of a passenger jet. the remains of its crew and passengers are everywhere. and yet there is no one here trying to work out what happened. no one here to take responsibility for this. the militants leaders say they are deliberately not altering the site so it remains intact for ukrainian and international experts to inspect. they're blaming the central government in kiev for not getting those experts here sooner. until both sides act together, there can be little dignity for

mh17's victims. phil black, cnn, eastern ukraine. >> could the flight 17 disaster take russia and ukraine to the brink? the countries have been at odds since street protests forced ukraine's former moscow president from power and that was just in february. russia then annexes the crimea region and ukraine accuses russia of crossing the border illegally to arm pro russian rebels. cynthia hooper is the associate professor at the college of the holy cross in massachusetts. and attorney arthur rosenburg is an aviation analyst. what does the downing of this plane mean in your view for the russia/ukraine relationship? >> well, obviously, russia's relationship with ukraine right now is at an all time low. i think the even more important question is what does this mean for russia's relationship with the rest of the world? in my opinion, we're sitting right in the middle of an

extremely fraught diplomatic crisis and it is extraordinary to me to contrast the behavior of the families of the victims and the leaders of the countries who are most affected by this tragedy. specifically the netherlands and malaysia. with the behavior of these ukraine separatists, seeing pictures of them at the crash site masked with machine guns, striding through fields still littered with debris 48 hours after the initial crisis. and also, to see russia failing to distance itself at all from their actions. and instead, engaging in a blame game, accusing the west of a propaganda war against their country and using russian-controlled media to spread the wildest of conspiracy theories. one more extreme than the next. it is like someone trying to throw half baked spaghetti against the wall in the homes that one or two pieces stick. >> so in your view, what is the

action that russia could take that would appease if not appeal to the international community which is clearly outraged about what has happened? >> i think russia needs to break from past patterns of denying responsibility for mistakes. i mean, there is a long history inside russia of failing to acknowledge responsibility for anything that makes the government look weak or look bad. one example of that would be the nuclear submarine that sank in 2000, four months after putin took office. some men died and suffocated after many days and russia refused international assistance and put forth theories that say, america was responsible somehow for the sinking of that

submarine. and i see great similarity now in terms of how this crisis is being handled. i mean, i think that the international community is saying we need investigate this and we need to refrain from jumping to conclusions. if investigation shows that these ukrainian separatists are behind the attack, there have to be consequences. and i think that obviously, putin has lost a great deal through this event. i don't think he wanted this to happen. his agenda had been had been succeeding. just last week he was meeting with german chancellor angela merkel at the world cup. so he has lost by any account a huge amount of face through this catastrophe. the best thing he can do is acknowledge that and work with the western countries. >> so are not there in your

views when you hear president obama saying it is vladimir putin who can help de-escalate the situation, do you believe that? do you believe that his involvement, even now, could help appease, if not quiet the conflict? >> yeah. let me answer the question two ways. first, absolutely. vladimir putin's sway over the separatists is absolutely paramount. through back channels, front channels, if the word gets out to these separatists to cooperate, to let these international organizations in, to let the investigators in, to let these people in, to dignify and sanctify these bodies and treat this investigation properly, i think that would be a long way to improving his standing right now in the world. the entire world is looking at this as the quintessential act of barberism and that's what it

is. there's a flip side. president obama also was wielding a sword because under various united states statutes, for example, the anti-terrorism act, state responsors of terrorism, individual terrorists, terrorist groups can be held accountable in the united states. the assets of individuals, including vladimir putin, people inside of russia, terrorist groups that are in the united states that we have access to, can all be used to satisfy judgments against these groom in the united states. >> even though it was not an american u.s. airliner, even though among the 298, only one was an american? >> yes. >> so the intent here is to make a worldwide reach. to squash this kind of activity. and this is the sword, i think, that is hanging over these people. >> okay.

fascinating. thanks to both of you. appreciate it. still ahead, we're learning more about the victims on board malaysia flight mh17. >> reporter: some powerful images are emerging on social media sent by passengers before the doomed flight. i have to tell you, some of them seemed downright ominous. i'll explain more coming up. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. but i've managed. ♪ i got to be pretty good at managing my symptoms, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. ♪ when i finally told my doctor, he said my crohn's was not under control. ♪ he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications

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don't just visit new york visit tripadvisor new york with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. 298 people from 14 different countries were on board malaysia flight 17. and 80 of them were children. almost half were from the netherlands. for more on the victims, laurie is joining us now from new york. >> reporter: i've been talking to a lot of folks and i spoke to

the nephew of one of the victims, glen thomas. glen was a spokesman for the world health organization. he was one of many folks on that flight, on the way to that aids conference. and what his nephew really said to me was he was just trying to capture a little bit about glen. he said he had been best friends with glen. not only was he in this for social good. that's a picture of them there. he loved to travel. and so that about how, he will me a funny story about when he was 21 years old, glen got on the phone and called him up and said drop everything. i'm taking you and seven friends to portugal. all expenses paid. it is these stories that he really wanted to share. he said if it weren't for glen, he wouldn't have gone to university. he said he was one of his best friends. he wasn't just an uncle. glen didn't have any kids himself so emthat he really spoiled his family. so when i spoke to jordan, obviously as you can imagine, he was in shock. he really just wanted to share the story of his uncle who was

so adventurous and loved to travel. this was going to be his first time in australia. so he said, glen usually misses flights many times because he was moving a million miles an hour. this one unfortunately he didn't miss because he was so excited to get there. it is these stories that tear at your heart a little bit. >> they really do. and then there are some incredible and ominous postings on social media. just before the flight for some of the folks. >> there really are. one dutch passenger posted on facebook a picture of the plane right before he got on. and the caption, he said if it disappears, this is what it looks like. referring to mh 370. and now knowing what happened, you just look at that. and you shake your head a bit. and then there is an instagram video that was uploaded after the plane took off. shortly after. where someone said, had the caption with the name of allah. #feeling a little nervous.

when you look at that and the fate of this flight, you really just, it just shows what a tragedy this was. and we're beginning to piece together stories of the victims and how special each and everyone of them were. >> indeed. 298 people. thanks so much. we'll be right back. in new york state, we're changing the way we do business, with startup ny. we've created tax free zones throughout the state. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. it's not just business as usual. see how new york can help your business grow, at startup.ny.gov peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews

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russian president vladimir putin is calling for a thorough and objective investigation of the crash. still, he is putting the blame squarely on ukraine for the downed airliner. mr. putin is now facing enormous pressure. not only from a frustrated international community but inside his own country. brian todd explains. >> reporter: vladimir putin responded to this horror in predictable fashion by hunkering down, deflecting blame toward ukraine. this tragedy would not have happened if there had been peace on that land or if military operations in southeastern ukraine had not been renewed. >> reporter: but u.s. leaders are blunt. while he didn't set the launch codes, putin's support for the pro russian rebels in ukraine believed to have fired the missile place a heavy burden on the man in the kremlin. >> he has the most control over that situation. so far at least, he has not exercised it.

>> i think he is responsible. >> reporter: analysts say in the immediate aftermath of the malaysia airlines crash, vladimir putin is under enormous pressure. >> this is one of the most difficult situations that vladimir putin has faced essential he first became president in 2000. >> reporter: of his most powerful partners, germany is threatening to pull back and china is not saying anything one way or the other. analysts say his only visible supporters in the immediate aftermath of the crash may be bashar al assad or castro. and it could be worse, the consequences for putin if he interferes with the investigation, if he doesn't ratchet back tensions with ukraine? >> the consequences are very severe. the west could cut off any access to the russian financial markets from any loans in the west. >> reporter: but experts say putin is under pressure from inside russia as well. from hard line nationalist who's want him to take back some of ukraine.

>> he has already come under pressure from them. they say he allowed the ukrainian military forces to take back one of the cities under occupation. >> reporter: all promming the inevitable question. how will this man who hates to be painted into a corner respond to all the pressure? his unpredictability there has many on edge. analysts say putin could get more aggressive with ukraine. co-simply ride this out. co-de-escalate with ukraine while helping nominally with an investigation. analysts say one thing he is not likely to do is to bring whoever fired the missile to justice. a trial or any proceeding like that, they say, might reveal hard information about where they got the weapon. cnn, washington. the ukrainian government is not only blaming the rebels. it has been battling for the last three months but also the russian government. kiev accuses moscow of arming, training and supporting the separatists. international correspondent ivan

watson spoke exclusively to the prime minister. he said he believes the missile system used to shoot down the airliner was supplied to the rebels by russia. >> this is not the russian-led terrorists who pressed the button. this is someone well trained. someone who knows how this russian machine works. someone who has an experience and we together with the international community will find out all responsible for this international crime. and those who supported them. this is the crime against humanity. and the building of international criminal court is very big. >> if the question on many minds, just why did malaysia flight 17 fly over a war zone?

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there's been a lot of discussion about why malaysia flight 17 flew over a war zone. the pro russian rebels in eastern ukraine had already downed some ukrainian military aircraft before this inls dental. so why not avoid the area all together? let's put that question to richard quest, our aviation correspondent who is in our new york newsroom. >> fred, the questions not surprisingly go to the very core of why the plane was flying there. it must immediately be said that the air route that mh17 was taking was a legal, legitimate open air route. why some airlines like quantityas and asiana had decided not to overfly ukraine, there were many airlines that were still flying over large parts of ukraine. malaysia being one of them. should the airline, should all of them be criticized? what happens is the airline

files a flight plan. if the it is closed, it is rejected. if it is open, they're allowed to fly. that's what happened here. looking back over the last 48 hours before the flight, there were many long haul flights from singapore, from bangkok, from malaysia that were all going over this route and around this area. the question that really needs to be asked is to the authorities. why when they knew that the capability of the separatists to bring planes down in recent days, why they didn't realize having reached that level of capability, they didn't close ukraine in air space. to put it bluntly, it was put to me by one chief exec of an airline. to blame the airline for flying the route is a bit like blaming the car for being on the road when the road is open. the question you need to ask, is why was the road open? >> richard quest in new york.

thank you so much. thank you for joining me today. i'm fredricka whitfield. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com cnn is live -- >> then thursday happened. a second plane disappearing from radar. this time no mystery about what happened. flight 17 was crossing high above a war zone when it was blown out of the sky. sudden death from a missile that people on the plane could never have seen coming. 298 people are dead. their bodies lying in a war zone. we don't know who did it but the white house has its suspicions. >> a group of separatists can't shoot down military transport planes or they claim shoot down fighter jets