PRESS-RELEASE

18 July 2014

Yesterday, approximately at 16.20 (Kyiv time) a Malaysia Airlines aircraft Boeing 777, flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur has vanished off radar on the altitude 10 100 miters. In recent days, this has become the third tragic accident following AN-26 and SU-25 aircrafts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces shooted down from the Russian territory.

We do not exclude that this aircraft was also attacked and we would like to emphasize that during the all-time of conduction the antiterrorist operation the air defense systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have never been used and there were no Ukrainian fighters in the air at the time of tragedy.

In a few hours after the incident the Secret Service of Ukraine received and released the irrefutable evidences that this plane was shooted down by the pro-russian terrorists and by the Russia made weapon.

On behalf of Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko expresses the deepest and the most sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who died in this terrible tragedy. All possible search-and-rescue operations are being carrying out.

President Poroshenko ordered to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to set up an Emergency State Commission for the investigation of this tragedy.

The President has invited the ICAO and other international experts including Dutch and Malaysian representatives to join the investigation efforts.

At the present time the Ukrainian authorities use all affords to achieve an agreement with terrorist’s leaders about access to the place of the catastrophe to provide all the necessary measures for the victims identification and repatriation of the bodies of the victims to their countries.

But even at this time the Ukraine has all reasons to believe that it was planned actions with the use of air defense systems. 

We are confident that those responsible for this tragedy will be brought to justice.

The Security Service of Ukraine intercepted telephone conversations - I. Bezler (aka 'Bes') reports to his coordinator, the Russian GRU colonel V. Geranin on a civil airplane recently shot down by militants (video): http://bit.ly/UdK7ab

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has settled up the crisis response unit in connection with the terroristic act, committed against the Malaysian Airliner Boeing-777, which crashed on the territory of Ukraine on 17 July, 2014.

The task of the unit, which can be contacted on 24/7 basis by the phone numbers (044) 279 62 06, 238 16 57, fax (044) 253 11 24 or e-mail: [email protected], is to provide an information for the relatives of the deceased and to coordinate an interaction with the Embassies and Consulates, accredited in Ukraine.

There are also crisis response units formed in the Embassy of Ukraine in Malaysia (phone: +603 21669552, +6016 2614707, fax +603 21664371, e-mail [email protected]) and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Netherlands (phone : +31(70)3626095, fax:+31(70)3615565, e-mail [email protected], [email protected])