Russia was behind downing of MH17: EU rights court

SBS Australia

10-07-2025

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . In July 2014, a commercial flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian Airlines flight M-H-17 - was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 253 people on board - including 38 Australians. At the time, anti-Kyiv separatists, backed by Russia, were fighting Ukrainian forces after the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea. It was these Russian-backed separatists who shot down the Boeing 777, using a Russian-made missile. More than a decade on, Europe's top human rights court has ruled that Russia was responsible. President of the European Court of Human Rights Mattias Guyomar, says Russia violated the right to life of passengers on board. 'The court found that the missile that downed the flight MH17 was fired by a member of the Russian military crew of the Buk Telar, or by a member of the DPR. It was not necessary for the court to decide exactly who fired the missile since Russia was responsible for the acts of the Russian armed force and of the armed separatists. No measures were taken by Russia to accurately identify the intended target of the missile in breach of international human law. The killing of the civilians onboard flight MH17 could not be described as a lawful act of war and violated the right to life under the Convention." The decision comes as part of a broader ruling examining four complaints filed to the court between 2014 and 2022, three from Ukraine and one from the Netherlands. The panel of 17 judges have found that since 2014, Russia has committed a series of flagrant and unprecedented violations of the European Human Rights Convention. These violations include, but are not limited to, the extrajudicial killing of civilians and military personnel outside combat, torture, forced labour, and the unlawful detention of civilians. Mattias Guyomar says these findings present the scale of violations carried out by the Russian state. "Taken as a whole, the evidence presented a picture of interconnected practices of manifestly unlawful conduct by agents of the Russian state on a massive scale across Ukraine. This included a practice of military attacks that were variously indiscriminate, disproportionate and targeted residential areas in breach of international humanitarian law." Russia left the European Human Rights Convention in September 2022, shortly after being expelled from the Council of Europe for its invasion of Ukraine. The decision is therefore largely symbolic, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Moscow plans to ignore them. But, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the ruling is a historic judgement and an undeniable victory for Ukraine and families of the victims hailed the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice. Meanwhile, Russia has conducted its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the war began, with 728 drones and 13 missiles fired in a single night. Over 10 Ukrainian regions were hit, with the hardest hit being Lutsk, a critical hub used for receiving foreign military aid. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says Russia's escalation is no longer about military targets. "Russia is now massively and deliberately bombing Ukrainian cities from the air night after night. Last night, we experienced some of the most massive bomb and rocket attacks since the beginning of the war. They are practically only targeting civilian sites; it is terrorism against the civilian population and has nothing to do with a war against military targets anymore." Responding after the attacks, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to make a point about the recently stalled U-S led peace efforts. With an increasing number of decoy drones fired by Russia in recent weeks, it appears Russia is seeking to overwhelm Ukraine's air defence systems. This comes as U-S President Donald Trump announced the U-S would resume weapons shipments to Ukraine after a brief pause. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says the resumption of shipments from the US will make matters worse. "After Washington's previously announced decision to suspend military supplies to the Kyiv regime during the inspection of Pentagon warehouses, the United States made statements about their resumption. The consequences of such moves are yet to be assessed, but it can be said with certainty that the continuation of sending weapons to Ukraine wouldn't help, to put it mildly, bring about a peaceful settlement of the conflict, which the world community, including the West Wing, seemingly calls everyone for." Mr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, is urging Ukraine's partners to impose stricter sanctions on Russian oil and those who help finance Russia's war by buying it. Visiting Italy ahead of an international conference on rebuilding Ukraine, he met with U-S Ukraine Envoy Keith Kellogg for what he describes as "substantive" conversations about weapon supplies and strengthening air defences. It's the first time the U-S is taking part in a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, a European dominated group of countries backing Ukraine. Kyiv is seeking to purchase more Patriot air defence systems from Washington, which are considered key to defending its cities. Donald Trump says he is considering the sale.
"They would like it. They've asked for it. They're very rare, indeed, you know, because a lot of systems have been sent to Ukraine. But they would like to. I know they made the request. We're going to have to take a look at it. Very expensive. Very expensive system. It's a shame that we have to spend so much money on a war that would have never happened if I were president. That's a terrible, terrible war over there. And it's really a shame. It's, uh... Very sad. You know, when you talk about a system like that, highly sophisticated, tremendous amount of money, and they're doing it because they want to prevent death. They're getting hit hard, very hard. So we're looking at it."