MH17: Berlin Knew Ukraine Flight Risks Before Crash - Media

A diplomatic cable by Germany's foreign ministry a few days prior to the crash warned the situation in eastern Ukraine was "worrying," and that a transport plane was shot down in the same area at more than 6,000 meters altitude, but never notified the Transport Ministry and the airlines, Zuddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The foreign ministry report quoted aviation experts as saying that it took a special type of weaponry to shoot down a plane flying that high.

Investigators are still trying to determine who was responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in July last year, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board.

The day of the MH17 crash "three Lufthansa aircraft also flew over the area, including one only 20 minutes before Flight MH17," Suddeutsche Zeitung said in extracts of an article published Monday.

The German Foreign Ministry has not commented on the information and the Federal Ministry of Transport told Zuddeutsche Zeitung that the government had no information on increased dangers to civil aviation over Ukrainian territory prior to the Malaysian Boeing crash.

The Netherlands earlier this month released 569 documents related to the downing of the Malaysian jetliner, but 147 remain classified.