Final report into MH17 crash to be published on October 13

Dutch investigators have announced they will release their final report into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine on October 13.

The Dutch Safety Board said in a statement on Thursday that relatives of the 298 people who died in the July 17 crash last year will be informed of the report's conclusions before its official release.

Among those killed were 39 Australians.

The Boeing 777 is widely believed to have been shot out of the air by a surface-to-air missile.

Western authorities have pointed blame at Russian-backed rebels who were fighting Ukrainian forces in the area. Russia has denied that, and blamed the Ukrainian forces, who also denied downing it.

Most victims on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch.

An early draft of the report leaked out earlier this year.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press in July that it showed the plane was brought down by a BUK surface-to-air missile launched from a village under the control of the rebels.

The Safety Board said last year that the Boeing 777 was likely brought down by "multiple high-energy objects," an apparent reference to fragments from a missile warhead, but it stopped short of identifying a missile strike as the cause.

A separate international criminal investigation, aiming to bring to justice those responsible, is focusing on a BUK surface-to-air missile downing MH17 as the most likely scenario.