Zelenskyy: MH17 flight tragedy will not be forgotten
Ukraine honours the memory of the victims of the Malaysian Airlines Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight which Kremlin-controlled Donetsk militants shot down with a Russian Buk anti-air missile on 17 July 2014.
Source: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter
Quote from Zelenskyy: "Our thoughts and our hearts are with the families and loved ones of each and every one of the 298 victims. This tragedy caused by the aggressor will never be forgotten. The occupier state, the terrorist state, will fully answer for all crimes committed in Ukraine."
Quote from Kuleba: "Russia shot down the MH17 nine years ago, killing all 298 people aboard. It lied about the tragedy for years, trying to dodge accountability, until the Dutch trial stated the truth. We mourn the MH17 victims and reiterate: accountability for Russian crimes is inevitable."
Russia shot down #MH17 9 years ago, killing all 298 people aboard. It lied about the tragedy for years trying to dodge accountability, until the Dutch trial stated the truth. We mourn the MH17 victims and reiterate: accountability for Russian crimes is inevitable. @United24media pic.twitter.com/g5BGET3yHI
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) July 17, 2023
Background:
- The Malaysian Airlines plane crash on 17 July 2014 in the east of Ukraine killed all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch nationals.
- The trial in the case began on 9 March 2020 after several years of evidence gathering by the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
- The JIT concluded that the plane was shot down with a Buk anti-aircraft missile system belonging to the 53rd Air Defence Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.
- The District Court of The Hague found Igor Girkin and his subordinate militants Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko guilty of downing the MH17 jet, but acquitted Oleg Pulatov. Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment. The court ordered their arrest.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
