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First Post
10-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
How Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17, killing 298 people
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 on board. Years of forensic investigations, legal trials, and international rulings have concluded that a Russian-supplied Buk missile system was responsible read more An Emergencies Ministry member walks at a site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. File Image/Reuters The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a landmark ruling on Wednesday (July 10, 2025) that held the Russian state responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. The court also found Russia had committed widespread and systematic human rights abuses across Ukraine in the years following its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The ECHR, which had consolidated four major cases involving Russia's conduct in Ukraine, stated, 'Taken as a whole, the vast volume of evidence before the Court presented a picture of interconnected practices of manifestly unlawful conduct by agents of the Russian State (Russian armed forces and other authorities, occupying administrations, and separatist armed groups and entities) on a massive scale across Ukraine.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Specifically on MH17, the court found that Russia failed to properly investigate the downing, did not cooperate with international information requests, and provided no legal path for survivors' families to seek justice. The court noted that Russia's ongoing denial of involvement had inflicted additional emotional harm on the victims' relatives. An Emergencies Ministry member works at putting out a fire at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. File Image/Reuters Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp commented after the ruling, 'Nothing can take away this suffering and grief, but I hope the verdict offers a sense of justice and recognition.' Ukraine's Justice Ministry called the ruling 'one of the most important in the practice of interstate cases.' Nonetheless, the practical impact of the court's ruling remains largely symbolic. Following its expulsion from the Council of Europe in 2022, Russia officially withdrew from the jurisdiction of the ECHR in 2023. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the court's authority, saying, 'We consider them null and void.' As a result, the ECHR has no enforcement mechanism over Russia, though it is expected to decide later on the issue of damages and reparations. What happened on that fateful day On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a commercial passenger aircraft travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down over a volatile area of eastern Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of all 298 people aboard. The Boeing 777, registered as 9M-MRD, had taken off from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 10:31 UTC and was operating as a regularly scheduled 11.5-hour international flight. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Among the passengers were citizens from at least ten different countries, including 193 nationals of the Netherlands. The crew consisted of 15 Malaysian nationals. Also on board was Dr. Joep Lange, a well-known researcher heading to an AIDS conference in Melbourne. The aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 33,000 feet, as required by Ukrainian aviation restrictions introduced three days earlier, after a Ukrainian military aircraft had been shot down while flying at a lower elevation in the same region. Flight MH17 was not alone in the skies that day — at least three other foreign civilian aircraft were in the same radar corridor. Communication between MH17 and Ukrainian and Russian air traffic control continued routinely until just before 13:20 UTC. No distress signal was sent before the aircraft disappeared from radar screens at around 13:26 UTC. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a midair explosion. The wreckage was spread across a large area near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, an area held by pro-Russian separatist forces. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The fuselage, cockpit, and other components were strewn across about 50 square kilometres, some of it landing in farmland and residential zones. A part of the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 plane is seen after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. File Image/Reuters Rescue teams arrived at the scene quickly, but because the crash site was in separatist-controlled territory, international access to the area was significantly delayed. Though the aircraft's voice and flight data recorders were eventually handed over to Malaysian authorities, investigators organised by the Dutch Ministry of Defence were only able to reach the crash site in November, several months after the tragedy occurred. Evidence traces the missile to Russia Following extensive analysis, investigators ruled out weather-related causes, pilot error, internal explosions or mechanical failure. Instead, a forensic reconstruction of the aircraft's fuselage, along with analysis of recorded data and shrapnel patterns, indicated the jet was hit by a warhead from a Buk surface-to-air missile system, specifically designed to detonate near its target without making direct contact. The missile exploded just feet away from the cockpit, killing the pilots instantly. The forward part of the fuselage separated from the rest of the aircraft, while the remaining sections, including the wings and passenger cabin, stayed airborne briefly before disintegrating and crashing to the ground. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Soon after the crash, Ukraine's government released audio recordings of what it said were intercepted communications between pro-Russian militants who appeared to be discussing having mistakenly shot down an aircraft. Initially, the separatists and Russian authorities denied responsibility and issued a series of alternate explanations, ranging from conspiracy theories to claims the Ukrainian military was involved. Later, video footage emerged allegedly showing separatist fighters walking among the wreckage and expressing surprise at having hit a civilian aircraft. These visuals, along with technical findings, prompted a Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to conduct a deeper inquiry. Armed pro-Russian separatists stand at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 MH17 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. File Image/Reuters In September 2016, the JIT concluded that the missile which struck MH17 was launched from territory under the control of Russian-backed separatists, using a Buk launcher that had been brought in from the Russian Federation and returned the same day. According to the JIT, the missile system originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian military. The evidence, including satellite images, forensic reconstructions, eyewitness testimony and intercepted communications, formed the basis of legal and diplomatic efforts to hold Russia accountable. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD How legal proceedings unfolded In 2019, Dutch prosecutors announced charges against four men — three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian — for their roles in the downing of MH17. Among them was Igor Girkin, a Russian citizen and former colonel of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), who was in charge of separatist military operations in Donetsk at the time. Girkin, who went by the alias 'Strelkov', left Ukraine for Russia within weeks of the attack. The Dutch investigative team stated, 'We have evidence showing that Russia provided the missile launcher.' Trials were held in absentia due to the difficulty of securing extradition. In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted Girkin and two others of murder and concluded that the missile had been launched by Russian-led troops using equipment delivered from Russia. Context of the Donbas War The destruction of MH17 occurred amid one of the most active phases of the Donbas war, a part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian conflict. After the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and Russia's seizure of Crimea in March 2014, unrest spread to the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk — collectively known as Donbas. On April 12, 2014, a paramilitary group led by Igor Girkin captured the town of Sloviansk and other strategic locations. Backed by Moscow, separatists proclaimed the formation of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Though Russia initially denied deploying troops, it later acknowledged that many separatist fighters were Russian veterans. Ukraine responded by launching a military operation dubbed the 'Anti-Terrorist Operation.' By mid-2014, Ukrainian forces had reclaimed significant territory, but Moscow escalated the conflict by covertly sending in tanks, artillery, and soldiers, enabling separatist forces to regain lost ground. In August 2014, just weeks after MH17 was shot down, Russia increased its involvement, effectively turning the regional rebellion into a proxy war. The Minsk I and II ceasefire agreements, signed in late 2014 and early 2015 respectively, failed to bring lasting peace. Sporadic fighting, artillery strikes, and trench warfare continued for years. Observers from the OSCE documented over 30,000 individuals in military uniform crossing from Russia into Ukraine, along with unmarked convoys of military hardware. By the time Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war in Donbas had claimed approximately 14,000 lives, including about 3,400 civilians. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD More than two million people had fled the region due to the conflict. The shootdown of MH17 stood out not only for its international profile but also for symbolising how the localised war in Donbas had global repercussions. People hold flags at a memorial to victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the accident, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, July 17, 2024. File Image/Reuters Despite legal rulings, international outrage, and overwhelming evidence, Russia continues to deny responsibility in the the downing of MH17. With inputs from agencies
NDTV
10-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Russia Shot Down Flight MH17 Killing 298 People, Rules Top Europe Court
Strasbourg: Europe's top human rights court found that Russia "shot down" Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members. Judges at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday also delivered damning judgments against Russia in three other cases brought by Kyiv and the Netherlands accusing Moscow of atrocities in Ukraine dating back more than a decade. Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777--from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur--was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels loyal to Moscow. Reading the judgment in a courtroom in Strasbourg, the court's president, Mattias Guyomar, said that the "evidence suggested that the missile had been intentionally fired at flight MH17, most likely in the mistaken belief that it had been a military aircraft." The judges found that Russia's refusal to acknowledge its involvement in the Flight MH17 disaster violated international law. It said that Moscow's failure to properly investigate the matter "significantly aggravated the suffering" of the relatives and friends of the dead. In May, the UN's aviation agency also found Russia responsible for the disaster. Other Ruling Against Russia The Court also found Russia guilty of murder, torture, rape, destruction of civilian infrastructure and kidnapping of Ukrainian children after Moscow's full-scale invasion of 2022. Guyomar said Russian forces breached international humanitarian law in Ukraine by carrying out attacks that "killed and wounded thousands of civilians and created fear and terror." The court also found the human rights abuses went beyond any military objective and that Russia used sexual violence as part of a strategy to break Ukrainian morale, the French judge said. "The use of rape as a weapon of war was an act of extreme atrocity that amounted to torture," Guyomar said. The 501-page judgment noted that Russia's refusal to participate in the proceedings also was a violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, the treaty that underpins the court. About The Court The ECHR is an important part of the Council of Europe, which is the continent's foremost human rights institution. The court's governing body expelled Moscow in 2022 in response to the all-out invasion. However, the court can still deal with cases against Russia dating from before its expulsion, and, legally, the country is still obliged to participate in the proceedings. The court will rule on financial compensation at a later date, but Russia's departure leaves little hope that damages will ever be collected. Russia And Ukraine's Reaction Asked about the judgment before the rulings were read, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We won't abide by it, we consider it void." While the Kremlin said it would ignore the largely symbolic judgment, Ukraine hailed it as "historic and unprecedented," saying it was an "undeniable victory" for the embattled country.
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
European court finds Russia responsible for international law violations. Here's the key takeaways
It's the first time an international court has concluded there have been widespread human rights abuses by Russian forces in Ukraine. The 501-page ruling by the Strasbourg court combined four complaints — three stemming from the separatist conflict that broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, and one linked to alleged violations of international law following the invasion. Advertisement In all four cases, the court's 17 judges unanimously found Russian forces breached international humanitarian law. One of the complaints was brought by the Netherlands in connection with the downing of MH17 over separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine. It is the first time an international court has held Russia responsible for the tragedy in which 298 people died. The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels loyal to Moscow. Among the victims were 196 Dutch citizens. The ECHR judges found that Russia's refusal to acknowledge its involvement in the disaster also violated international law. Russia's failure to properly investigate it 'significantly aggravated the suffering' of the relatives and friends of the dead. Advertisement In 2022, a criminal court in the Netherlands convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel in absentia of multiple murders for their roles in the downing of Flight MH17 in a separate case. The ECHR is an important part of the Council of Europe, which is the continent's foremost human rights institution. Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Strasbourg, France, the Council of Europe is an international organization dedicated to promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. It has 46 member states. The organization expelled Moscow in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. However, the court can still deal with cases against Russia dating from before its expulsion and, legally, the country is still obliged to participate in the proceedings. The rulings won't be the last from the ECHR dealing with the war. Kyiv has other cases pending against Russia and there are nearly 10,000 cases brought by individuals against the Kremlin. The court will rule on financial compensation at a later date, but Russia's expulsion leaves little hope that damages will ever be collected. Typically, judges at the ECHR award damages to victims for financial loss or hardship suffered when their rights were violated. The court ordered Russia to pay millions of dollars in compensation to Georgia for a swath of violations after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. That money has never been handed over. In 2023, more than 40 nations and the Council of Europe agreed to set up a system to tally the destruction Russia has inflicted on Ukraine in the hope of getting reparations. The Hague-based Register of Damage for Ukraine, also known as RD4U, began accepting claims last year. Advertisement Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky last month formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the invasion of Ukraine. The special tribunal will be created through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. It aims to target senior Russian leaders for the 'crime of aggression,' which underpins the countless war crimes Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing since the start of the war. Existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, lack the jurisdiction to prosecute Russian nationals for that specific offense. The ICC has multiple outstanding arrest warrants for Russian officials for war crimes. They include President Vladimir Putin, who is accused of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
Indian Express
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Europe court holds Russia accountable for human rights violations in Ukraine, downing Malaysia Airlines flight
Europe's top human rights court on Wednesday found Russia responsible for widespread human rights violations during the war in Ukraine and for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for either. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favour of Ukraine and the Netherlands in two high-profile cases, concluding that Russia violated multiple international laws during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and directly supported the separatist rebels responsible for shooting down MH17. The Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people onboard, including 196 Dutch nationals. Though largely symbolic, the rulings are seen as a milestone in international efforts to hold Russia accountable. The cases date from before Russia's 2022 expulsion from the Council of Europe, allowing the court to proceed. Families of MH17 victims welcomed the decision. 'It's a real step in understanding who was really responsible,' said Thomas Schansman, whose 18-year-old son died in the tragedy, AP quoted. While the rulings carry no enforcement power, they add to mounting international pressure. Thousands more cases against Russia remain pending at the ECHR.
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Europe's top human rights court is set to rule on cases against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine
Families of the victims of the MH17 disaster see the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice. 'It's a real step in understanding who was really responsible,' Thomas Schansman, who lost his 18-year-old son Quinn in the tragedy, told The Associated Press. The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens. Advertisement In May, the U.N.'s aviation agency found Russia responsible for the disaster. The ECHR is an important part of the Council of Europe, which is the continent's foremost human rights institution. Russia was expelled from the council over Moscow's invasion and war in Ukraine. However, the court can still deal with cases against Russia dating from before its expulsion. In 2023, the judges sided with Ukraine and the Netherlands in a challenge over jurisdiction, finding there was sufficient evidence to show areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels were 'under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation,' including providing weapons, and giving political and economic support. Advertisement Wednesday's ruling won't be the last from the EHCR dealing with the war. Kyiv has other cases pending against Russia and there are nearly 10,000 cases brought by individuals against the Kremlin. The decisions in Strasbourg are separate from a criminal prosecution in the Netherlands in which two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel were convicted in absentia of multiple murders for their roles in the downing of Flight MH17. Meanwhile, in 2022, the United Nations' top court ordered Russia to stop military operations in Ukraine while a case is heard, a process that takes years. Russia has flouted the order by the International Court of Justice. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Schansman, who has also brought an individual case to the ECHR, has no plans to stop pursuing justice, more than a decade after his son's death. 'The worst thing we could to is stop fighting,' he told AP. 'MH17 is not a case that will disappear for Russia.'
