Here is a very interesting piece of wreckage up for analysis :
https://www.metabunk.org/data/MetaMirrorCache/5c8784d8aa2109fc2908f34ded649fb1.jpg
Same piece from a slightly different angle :
https://www.metabunk.org/data/MetaMirrorCache/4a97f4c759edcc3face1e05d71bbe005.jpg
These are the front row business class overhead bins, which are mounted center in the plane:
On the 777-200ER floorplan, these bins are right against wall behind the front exit doors (in the red rectangle) :
The reason these are so interesting, is that the location of these overhead bins is at a point where the direction and intensity of the two different launch positions (Snizhne or Zaroshens'kye) differs greatly.
So it is a great piece to analyse damage on.
Here is the last picture again, this time flipped upside down (which is more or less how you would see these overhead bins when you look up from your seat) :
The front (towards the cockpit) is indicated with the red arrow.
The small red circles show what is very likely damage from fragments.
The small orange circles show possible fragment damage, although these also may be leaves or simple damage sustained on the way down or while falling into that tree.
Point is there is SOME fragment damage through the bins, but not a whole lot. And these fragments came in from ABOVE and from the SIDE, and most certainly NOT strait from the front.
Even stronger evidence that the fragment did not come from strait from the front, is that the front mounting plane (indicated in that large yellow oval) is FREE of damage. Not a single piece of shrapnel went through it !
[EDIT: Removed any conclusions that were based on the location of the mounting plate, since the facing was convincingly shown to be incorrect. See below]