1.       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.

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.

On July 23, the Boeing-777 black boxes arrived in the UK for further analysis.

2.        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.

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.

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.

On July 29, in order to ensure further constant coordination of work and safety of the expert group a command room was established.

On July 31, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the laws on ratification of the Agreement between Ukraine and the Netherlands on International Mission for Protection of Investigation (signed July 28) and also the Agreement between Ukraine and Australia on sending Australian personnel to Ukraine in connection with MH17 Malaysia Airlines plane crash (signed July 24).

The multinational International Mission for Protection of Investigation led by the Netherlands shall be established to facilitate the recovery of remains and the conduct of the investigation called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2166 of 21 July, and other activities as may be agreed between the Parties.

The Mission shall consist of military and non-military personnel from the Netherlands and Australia and other States whose nationals were on flight MH17 as appropriate.

The Mission shall be composed of up to 700 armed personnel.

3.       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 (1), ICAO (3) arrived in Ukraine and started investigating circumstances of Malaysia Airlines aircraft crash.

On 21 July, the President of Ukraine ordered the CTO forces to ensure a safety zone around the crash site.

Ukrainian militaries do not take any active military actions in the area around the crash site and also stopped any action in a 10-kilometer zone around the path through which the OSCE experts are moving.

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.

4.       On July 31, a group of OSCE international expert mission reached the site of downing of Boeing 777 passenger aircraft in order to inspect the territory with the debris and organize further investigation.

5.       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.