International prosecutors have concluded there is not enough evidence against President Vladimir Putin in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014 to lead to a criminal conviction, despite "strong indications" of the Russian leader's involvement.

The verdict means that the eight-year-long investigation will end without the prosecutions of any Russian officials, even though the prosecutors said there were indications Putin and other Russian officials approved the use in Ukraine of a Russian missile system that brought the plane down. 

Russia has denied any involvement in the downing of the civilian airliner, which killed 298 passengers and crew.

"The investigation has now reached its limit," prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer told a news conference in The Hague. "The findings are insufficient for the prosecution of new suspects."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands would continue to hold Russia to account for the downing of the flight, adding his "bitter disappointment" at the lack of prosecutions. 

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin responded by saying his country would use all international legal mechanisms to try the Russian leader and "bring him to justice."

In November, a Dutch court convicted two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader of murder for helping arrange the Russian BUK missile system that was used to shoot the plane down. The three men, who were tried in absentia, have not been caught by European officials. 

At the time the plane was shot down, Ukrainian forces were fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province.

Moscow denied direct military involvement in the fighting in Donetsk during 2014 .

However, the Dutch court ruled during its November conviction that Russia had "overall control" of separatist forces in Donetsk starting from May 2014.

Prosecutors added on Wednesday that it was not possible to identify the specific soldiers responsible for firing the missile system that downed the plane, which it said came from Russia's 53rd brigade in Kursk.

The evidence they gave that Putin had given his approval for the use of the missile system comes from a 2014 phone intercept between Russian officials, saying his ruling would have been needed before a request for equipment made by the separatists could have been granted.