MH17 crash: Yenin, O’Rourke discuss progress of investigation

23.06.2020 14:32

Ukrinform

Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin has met with Australia’s Ambassador to Ukraine Melissa O’Rourke to discuss the progress of the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

"On June 22, 2020, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin met with Australia’s Ambassador to Ukraine Melissa O’Rourke. The parties praised the progress of investigation into the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and discussed certain issues of the court hearings which have resumed in the Netherlands," the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informs.

It is noted that they also discussed the ways to further expand comprehensive bilateral cooperation, in particular on the exchange of high-level visits.

Ambassador O’Rourke underscored Australia’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, including within international organizations and in the context of the continuation of the sanctions policy.

As reported, the court hearings in the MH17 trial started at the Schiphol Judicial Complex in the Netherlands in March this year.

On June 19, 2019, the international Joint Investigation Team named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic"; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called "Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk People’s Republic"; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic."

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 JIT 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.