C441:
I believe that Qantas, and all other international operators, avoided Simferapol because it was closed to all traffic and thus not available. I don't have the NOTAM, but some clever go-getter will surely have it. Also, you can see from the pic you posted that the area where MH17 came down is in a different FIR- tragically not closed to traffic.
The claim that Qantas avoided eastern Ukraine due to their risk management is laughable but well done by the
PR folks.