Fatal plane crash spotlights Russia and Ukraine's battle to control the skies — and the narrative

“It could be a terrible accident, it could be something completely different, or it could be a disinformation campaign,” said Neil Melvin, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, a London-based think tank. “All of these scenarios, I think, currently are possible until we can get some more information,” he told NBC News.