Ukraine’s ambassador on MH17 case: FSF report dots the i's in airspace closure issue

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov said this in an exclusive comment to an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.

“The additional inquiry of the facts, which is important, in particular, for the relatives of the victims, was intended to dot the i's in the issue of airspace closure on the day of the tragedy. Ukraine was receptive to this sensitive topic and cooperated in the additional fact-finding in full, although it had already provided relevant information on this issue as part of the technical investigation. The results presented in the report confirm the previous conclusions. This is reflected in the cover letter of Foreign Minister of Netherlands Stef Blok to parliament. Accordingly, for Ukraine and the entire world community, this is a confirmation that our state complied with the norms and rules existing at that time, and also acted in accordance with the information available to the competent authorities. The position of the Dutch government on the absence of grounds for bringing Ukraine to justice was expressed earlier following the results of a technical investigation and has now been confirmed. The February 5 report allows us to dispel doubts - if they still exist - and to move forward in bringing the perpetrators to justice," Chentsov said.

He also noted that this report was prepared in addition to a technical investigation, which also covered the issue of airspace closure, and the results of which were presented by the Dutch Safety Board in October 2015.

As Ukrinform reported, the Dutch parliament released a report on the completion of an additional inquiry into the airspace closure above and around eastern Ukraine in relation to the downing of Flight MH17.

The Flight Safety Foundation’s report notes that the inquiry did not find sufficient facts that Ukrainian authorities responsible for analysing security risk levels in civil aviation airspace and those establishing restriction of airspace in a conflict zone were aware of a threat to civil aviation before the downing of Flight MH17.

Therefore, the Dutch government sees no reason to review its previous position, namely the lack of convincing legal evidence to hold Ukraine accountable for its decision not to close airspace over the war zone.

In October 2019, the Dutch parliament supported the MPs' proposal for an additional study of the circumstances of airspace closure over Donbas at the time when flight MH17 was shot down.

Ukrainian officials repeatedly stated that Ukraine had acted in accordance with the ICAO rules in force at that time and, based on an analysis of the existing risks, reported on the armed conflict and imposed bans on civil aviation flights.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over conflict-hit Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died.

The international Joint Investigation Team reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially accused Russia of involvement in the MH17 crash.

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