UN agency releases reports on 2014 plane crash
Australia and the Netherlands, the countries with the most fatalities in the tragedy, quickly called for Russia to assume responsibility for the downing and pay damages.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), based in Montreal, said claims brought by Australia and the Netherlands over the shooting down of Flight MH17 on July 17 of that year were "well-founded in fact and law."
"The Russian Federation failed to uphold its obligations under international air law in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17," the agency said in a statement issued Monday evening. The ICAO said this was the first time in its history that its council had determined on the merits of a dispute between member states. On July 17, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 -- en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur -- was hit by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, where pro-Russian separatist rebels were battling Ukrainian forces. Dutch nationals accounted for two-thirds of the dead, along with 38 Australians and about 30 Malaysians, with many victims having dual nationalities.
Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it a "terrorist act."
Pro-Russian rebels in the area claimed the airliner was shot down by a Ukrainian military jet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine "bears responsibility."
The following day, then US president Barack Obama said a missile fired from separatist-held territory was to blame and the rebels would not have been able to hit the airliner without Russian support.
In 2022, a Dutch court sentenced three men to life in prison over the downing, among them two Russians, but Russia refused to extradite them. Russia has consistently denied any involvement in the tragedy.
In 2023, a team of international investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Ukraine said there were "strong indications" that Putin had approved the supply of the missile that brought down the jetliner. Last year, investigators suspended their probe of the downing, saying there was not enough evidence to identify more suspects.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha celebrated the ICAO decision, writing in a statement on X: "This is one more step toward restoring justice for this crime." "And a clear message: no matter how much money and effort Russia put into lying to conceal its crimes, the truth wins out, and justice prevails." The governments of Australia and the Netherlands also welcomed the UN agency's decision Monday night and pressed for action against Russia.
"This is a historic moment in the pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability for the victims of the downing of Flight MH17, and their families and loved ones," the Australian government said in a statement. It called on the agency to "move swiftly to determine remedies" for Russia's violation of international law. "We call upon Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for this horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct, as required under international law," the statement added. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said: "The decision cannot take away their grief and suffering, but it is an important step towards truth-finding, justice and accountability for all victims of flight MH17 and their relatives."
The minister said that in the coming weeks the ICAO council "will consider how legal redress should take place." The minister said that Australia and the Netherlands want the council to make Russia enter into negotiations with them and supervise the process.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
4 hours ago
- Observer
Ukrainian drones spark fire at Russian Sochi oil depot
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Sochi, the Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, around 400 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, authorities said. Ukraine has regularly hit Russian oil and gas infrastructure in response to attacks on its own territory since Russia began its offensive in February 2022. 'Sochi suffered a drone attack by the Kyiv regime last night', the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Telegram. He said drone wreckage hit an 'oil tank, which caused a fire'. Sochi's mayor, Andrei Proshunin, said there were no victims and 'The situation is totally under control', adding that firefighters were continuing to extinguish the blaze. Images, broadcast by Russian media showed flames and a thick plumes of black smoke rising from the site. Air traffic was briefly suspended at Sochi airport but resumed shortly afterward, Russia's air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said. Ukraine authorities had not commented on the fire. Air strikes on Sochi are relatively rare compared to some other Russian cities. However, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people there late last month, according to local authorities. Kyiv has said it will intensify its air strikes against Russia in response to an increase in Russian attacks on its territory in recent weeks, which have killed dozens of civilians. The Russian defence ministry said meanwhile that three Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in the Leningrad region, which includes the Baltic seaport of Saint Petersburg. Overnight strikes by Russia inside Ukraine's south and north also left several people injured, authorities said. One missile wounded seven people in a residential district of Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Three other people were injured in the northeastern Kharkiv region, she added, while local authorities also reported injuries in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south. 'The Russians continue to wage war not against Ukrainian forces, but against Ukrainian civilians', Svyrydenko said. Last week, US President Donald Trump gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a ten-day ultimatum, until next Friday, to end the conflict in Ukraine. The air strikes and fighting have not abated, however and the Kremlin has rejected the idea of a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine, which it sees as a gift to Kyiv's troops. Ukraine said on Saturday it hit military targets and a gas pipeline in drone attacks in Russia, where local authorities said three people were killed and two others wounded. Ukraine's SBU security service said the strikes, carried out by long-distance drones, hit a military airfield in the southwestern town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk. They caused a fire in an areas where drones were stored, the SBU said. It said the strikes also hit a company, Elektropribor, in Russia's southern Penza region, which it said 'works for the Russian military-industrial complex', making military digital networks, aviation devices, armoured vehicles and ships. The governor for the Penza region, Oleg Melnichenko, said on Telegram that one woman had been killed and two other people were wounded in that attack. Russia's defence ministry said its air-defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory — 34 over the Rostov region — in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning. An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region, governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram. In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack and a fire in one of the site's buildings, acting Rostov governor Yuri Sliusar said. 'The military repelled a massive air attack during the night', destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram. An analysis published on Friday showed that Russia's forces in July launched an unprecedented number of drones, 6,297 of them. The figure included decoy drones sent into Ukraine's skies in efforts to saturate the country's air-defence systems. In Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian drone attacks on Friday night wounded three people, governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram. Several buildings, homes and cars were damaged, he said. — AFP
Observer
4 hours ago
- Observer
Russian, Chinese navies carry out joint drills
MOSCOW: The Russian and Chinese navies are carrying out artillery and anti-submarine drills in the Sea of Japan as part of scheduled joint exercises, the Russian Pacific Fleet was quoted as saying on Sunday. The drills are taking place two days after US President Donald Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in 'the appropriate regions' in response to remarks by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. However, they were scheduled well before Trump's action. Interfax news agency quoted the Pacific Fleet as saying Russian and Chinese vessels were moving in a joint detachment including a large Russian anti-submarine ship and two Chinese destroyers. It said diesel-electric submarines from the two countries were also involved, as well as a Chinese submarine rescue ship. The manoeuvres are part of exercises titled 'Maritime Interaction-2025' which are scheduled to end on Tuesday. Interfax said Russian and Chinese sailors would conduct artillery firing, practise anti-submarine and air defence missions, and improve joint search and rescue operations at sea. — Reuters
Observer
6 hours ago
- Observer
Global shift towards recognising Palestine
The diplomatic landscape of the Israel-Palestine conflict is undergoing a major shift, following announcements by Canada, the United Kingdom and France to formally recognise a Palestinian state by September 2025. As longtime advocates of a two-state solution, this move by three G7 nations signals growing frustration with Israel's conduct and a revived international push for justice. While not a final resolution, it offers hope for a process long stalled by Israel's continued occupation and military aggression. The Palestinian demand for statehood is rooted in a history of dispossession. The 1947 UN partition plan, which proposed separate Arab and Jewish states, was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by Arab nations, triggering the 1948 war. What followed was the Nakba — a catastrophe during which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes. Israel exceeded its allotted territory, and scholars such as Ilan Pappé have described this as an act of ethnic cleansing. In 1988, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) declared independence, gaining recognition from much of the Global South. Western powers, however, withheld recognition, arguing that statehood must result from negotiations. This allowed Israel to entrench its occupation while avoiding meaningful accountability. A recent High-Level International Conference on the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia at the UN, reflected rising international discontent. The conference reaffirmed 'unwavering support' for Palestinian statehood. Yet Israel refused to engage meaningfully, and the US, under President Trump's renewed administration, dismissed the effort as 'unproductive and ill-timed.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio's response highlighted America's ongoing role in shielding Israel. The conference had been delayed due to Israel's intensifying confrontation with Iran, illustrating its destabilising role in the region. The new positions of the UK and Canada signal a departure from this status quo. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has tied recognition to halting military operations in Gaza and freezing settlement expansion in the West Bank. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, while supportive, has called for reforms within the Palestinian Authority. These conditions indicate a genuine effort toward a viable, sovereign Palestinian state. They reflect international frustration over Israel's repeated obstruction of peace and the severe humanitarian toll in Palestine. Failed peace efforts — sabotaged by settlement expansion and Israel's refusal to negotiate in good faith — make clear the need for a new path. The United States, by contrast, remains aligned with Israel. Rubio has criticised his allies' moves as 'clumsy' and imposed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority while continuing to send billions in military aid to Israel. This double standard enables Israel to avoid its obligations under international law and perpetuate occupation with impunity. Public sentiment underscores the urgency of change. A June 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that only 21 per cent of Israelis believe peaceful coexistence with a Palestinian state is possible — reflecting deep disillusionment. Still, other polls suggest most Israelis would support mutual recognition under a comprehensive peace deal. Among Palestinians, hope endures. A May 2025 PCPSR poll showed that 68 per cent believe an independent state will eventually be realised. Yet many also recognise that symbolic recognition without actual freedom from occupation is insufficient. What they seek is justice and liberation, not empty declarations. In the countries recognising Palestine, public opinion is largely supportive. A 29 July 2025 YouGov poll found that 45 per cent of Britons back UK recognition, compared to just 14 per cent opposed. Though recent polling is limited in Canada and France, their governments' decisions reflect wider humanitarian concern and political will. Human rights organisations have long championed Palestinian statehood as essential to international law. Reports from Human Rights Watch (A Threshold Crossed, 2021) and Amnesty International (Israel's Apartheid Against Palestinians, 2022) conclude that Israeli policies meet the legal definition of apartheid and constitute crimes against humanity. This new diplomatic momentum is not a final solution, but it is a pivotal moment. For Palestinians, it renews hope and validates their struggle for dignity. For Israel, it delivers a clear message: the world is no longer willing to ignore its violations. If global pressure continues — and justice becomes the guiding principle — this could mark the beginning of a long-overdue reckoning. History teaches us the cost of silence. The question is whether the world is finally ready to act. Badr al Dhafari The writer is head of proofreading, translation at Oman Observer
