Ukraine’s position:
Ø WE HAVE ALL EVIDENCES THAT THE PLANE WAS DOWNED BY RUSSIA-BACKED TERRORISTS WITH A “BUK-M” SAM SYSTEM (NATO REPORTING NAME – SA-11),WHICH TOGETHER WITH THE CREW HAD BEEN SUPPLIED FROM RUSSIA. IT IS CONFIRMED BY THE INTELLIGENCE, INTERCEPTED TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS OF THE TERRORISTS AND SATELLITE PICTURES.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have never used any anti-aircraft missiles since the start of the CTO, no Ukrainian Air Forces jet fighters were airborne at the time of the air crash.
On July 17, approximately at 4:20 p.m., Malaysia Airlines plane Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 298 people on board (283 passengers, including 3infants, and 15 crewmembers) disappeared from radar at an altitude of 10 100 m. At 4.45 p.m. the plane crashed near the village Grabovo in the Donetsk oblast near the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The number of passengers and their nationalities of those on-board MH17: Netherlands – 194 (including 1 dual Netherlands/US citizen, 1 dual Netherlands/Germany citizen), Malaysia - 43(including 15 crew), Australia – 27, Indonesia - 12, United Kingdom – 10 (including 1 dual UK/S. Africa citizen), Germany – 4 (including 1 dual Netherlands/Germany citizen), Belgium – 4, Philippines – 3, Canada – 1, New Zealand – 1.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) made public the intercepted telephone conversations of the terrorists, during which I.Bezler (aka 'Bes') reports to his coordinator, the Russian GRU colonel V. Geranin on a civil airplane being shot down by militants. In another intercepted telephone conversation, terrorists discussed the fact that on July 17 the “BUK-M” SAM system had been supplied to them from Russia.
On July 21, search operations at the crash site were fully completed. The units of the State service on emergencies of Ukraine discovered 282 dead bodies and 87 fragments that belonged to 16 other bodies.
As of July 29, 227 bodies of the victims left Ukraine from Kharkiv Airport for the Netherlands.
On July 23, the Boeing-777 black boxes arrived in the UK for further analysis.
Ø IT IS THE CORE INTEREST OF UKRAINE TO ENSURE IMMEDIATE, COMPREHENSIVE, TRANSPARENT AND UNBIASED INTERNATIONAL FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION INTO THE TRAGEDY.
The State commission with the involvement of experts from ICAO and other international structures, including the EUROCONTROL, was established. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry established the crisis response unit for communication with relatives of victims of this terrorist act.
On July 24, Ministers for foreign affairs of Ukraine and the Netherlands signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the investigation of the MH17 crash.
Under the Memorandum, taking into account the fact that the majority of victims of the disaster are Dutch citizens, Ukraine, as country where the tragedy happened, delegates the authority to the Netherlands to investigate the case. It is secured by the Agreement between the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine and the respective agency of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands shall coordinate the investigation of all circumstances of the tragedy and shall be responsible for its holding under Annex 13, part 5 of the Chicago Convention. The Netherlands shall ensure the participation of other parties concerned, particularly Ukraine, as country where the event took place, Malaysia, as country-owner of the aircraft, the United States, as country-manufacturer of the aircraft and the ICAO.
The Agreements with Australia and with the Netherlands were to allow the personnel of both countries be engaged in securing the site of MH17 crash. The Parliament will consider the ratification of both Agreements on July 31.
On July 29, in order to ensure further constant coordination of work and safety of the expert group a command room was established.
Ø UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES RENDER ALL POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE TO THE FOREIGN INVESTIGATION TEAMS. WE PROVIDED ALL NECESSARY TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL TO HOLD THE INVESTIGATION AND FORENSIC EXAMINATIONS, AS WELL AS ALL MEANS TO REPATRIATE THE VICTIMS’ BODIES TO THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES.
A special investigation team from Malaysia (12 persons) and special investigation teams from the Netherlands (215 persons), Australia (140), Indonesia (4), United Arab Emirates (6), UK (2), France (1), Italy (1), EU (3), ICAO (3) arrived in Ukraine and started investigating circumstances of Malaysia Airlines aircraft crash.
Ø On 21 July, the President of Ukraine ordered the CTO forces to ensure a safety zone around the crash site.
Despite the dreadful tragedy with Malaysia Airlines aircraft, terrorists have not stopped violent actions and continue their subversive activities and armed assaults on the Ukrainian militaries and residential areas.
Moreover, according to our information and OSCE monitors on the ground, terrorists tamper with the evidence and contaminate the crash site.
On July 29, the President of Ukraine expressed his willingness to offer the OSCE experts to monitor the situation and the bilateral cease-fire directly at the checkpoints.
Ø We urge the international community to apply maximum political pressure on Russia in order to make it withdraw the terrorists from Ukraine, to allow the Ukrainian and international experts full and unimpeded access to the crash site and actively promote the comprehensive investigation into the tragedy.
On July 21, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an international investigation into the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight in eastern Ukraine, and demanded that armed groups allow unfettered access to the crash site and ensure that its integrity is maintained. The Council also demanded that those responsible for this incident to be held to account and that all States cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.
The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to identify possible options for the United Nations to support to the investigation and to report to the Security Council on relevant developments.