An worldwide group of investigators probing the crash of the Malaysian Boeing in eastern Ukraine have yet to find out whether the plane was shot down from the ground or from the air, according to the Dutch prosecutor general’s office. A plaque with the names of the victims was unveiled in the gardens – it was set in soil brought back from Ukraine by an Australian police officer.
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Ukraine and Australia, though half a world apart, both commemorated the first anniversary of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down on July 17, 2014.
A preliminary report released in the Netherlands previous year said the plane had no technical problems in the seconds before it broke up in the sky after being struck an object that could have been a missile.
Russian officials deny Moscow’s involvement and have accused Ukraine’s Air Force of shooting the plane down.
A photo taken on July 23, 2014 shows the crash site of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, in a field near the village of Grabove, in the Donetsk region.
Most of the participants of the march in Ukraine were women and children who were escorted by Soviet military men.
“Putin’s aim is to kill the Ukrainian project, just to eliminate Ukraine – I have no doubt”, said Arseniy Yatsenyuk, 41, to The Times following a meeting with David Cameron on a visit to London. Speaking Friday to reporters in Kyiv, he said he was shocked at “how little has changed”.
All 298 people on board died in the crash.
“The facts of looting, how the terrorists are dealing with the bodies, are beyond the moral boundaries”, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, whose government is locked in a bitter conflict with the rebels, said at the time. Poroshenko said he was anxious, even more so since they already had access to a large scope of wreckage and the remains of the rocket which shot down MH17. “It would not have happened without the participation and an order from top political and military leaders of the neighbouring state”.
At Australia’s ceremony on Friday to honor the victims, Prime Minister Tony Abbott called them “innocent people living their lives to the full, advancing careers, celebrating birthdays, visiting family, enjoying retirement or taking the holiday of a lifetime”.
“He knew that the place where MH17 came to rest was sacred and that a piece of it should come back to Australia”, Abbott said. Some kissed the bouquets before they placed them down, while others kissed their fingers and pressed them against the plaque.
The plane was shot down during a bout of heavy fighting previous year between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, sparking global condemnation.
The commemoration held a minute’s silence exactly one year after air traffic control lost contact with the flight.
Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.
News Corporation has released new footage which it said showed Russian-backed rebels rummaging through the luggage of dead passengers among the plane’s smouldering wreckage.
In the Netherlands, hundreds of relatives of those killed on MH17 were gathering Friday afternoon at a conference centre near the central city of Utrecht, an event organized by the relatives themselves.
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Some 193 of the victims were from the Netherlands, where flags flew at half-mast on public buildings. There are reports that a coalition of nations including Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine are conducting a criminal probe.
