[McGruff]

My question is who directed them to follow this flight path.

They should be questioned.

[Alas Babylon!]

If this was the only flight that day it would be a great question; but it is not.

The Daily Mail, UK, has an article that says there are 300 flights over the Ukraine on a DAILY basis. Your map shows none of them, and if any actually flew over that part of the Ukraine, but with 300 a day, I’m sure there were probably a few.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2697098/THREE-HUNDRED-planes-scheduled-fly-Ukraine-day-MH17-tragedy.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

The reason to fly over this airspace is very apparent when one looks at a world map. The direction from a Northern European airport to Kuala Lampur or Singapore takes the flight over Southeastern Ukraine. Direct flights save a lot of avgas, which cost the airlines money. There was no doubt a financial imperative to save avgas for this cash-strapped airline. Well, now there is a financial imperative to avoid that airspace. For whatever reason (probably money again), the airlines thought that flying at at least 10KM (34,000 ft) would be safe even over a civil war.