MH17 Victims' Remains Arrive in Netherlands
by Al Pessin July 23, 2014
The first of the caskets bearing the bodies of victims of the Malaysian airliner were flown to the Netherlands for identification. At a short, solemn ceremony in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Dutch diplomat Hans Docter addressed the victims directly.
"Today your journey home begins. It will still be a long journey. We have a painful identification process to go through that will take time.”
More than half the people on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch citizens, and the Netherlands is leading the international investigation.
Most of the bodies delivered to Kharkiv by train on Tuesday are still being processed there and will go to the Netherlands on later flights. Officials cast doubt on initial reports the rebels in eastern Ukraine sent all 298 bodies, or at least parts of them.
Rebel fighters control the site, and it is not clear whether local officials would be allowed to resume the search. International investigators have been kept out, except for three Dutch experts.
Meanwhile, the flight data and voice recorders from the Malaysian plane were flown to Britain for analysis.
Dutch Safety Board takes over investigation
The Dutch Safety Board said on Wednesday it had taken charge of an international investigation into the crash last week.
In a statement, the authority said it would coordinate a team of 24 investigators from Ukraine, Malaysia, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia and the International Civil Aviation Organization. It said four Dutch investigators were operating in Ukraine.
The authority said it would look at whether the Boeing 777's black box flight data recorders had been tampered with. It said it would also conduct separate investigations into the decision-making processes behind flight routes and the availability of passenger lists.
Ukrainian jets shot down
Ukraine says it believes Russian forces operating inside Russia shot down two of its fighter jets on Wednesday.
The claim of direct Russian involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict came from the spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Colonel Andriy Lysenko. He told a news conference in Kyiv the fighter jets were flying more than 5,000 meters above rebel held territory when they were shot down, far above what he says is the maximum capability of separatist anti-aircraft weapons.
Ukraine and Western intelligence agencies say rebels shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane last week from a much higher altitude, but the Russian-supplied system they used was returned to Russia.
Although Lysenko said the missiles that hit the fighter jets came from across the border in Russia, he said he was not making an accusation. He said his statement was based on “preliminary data,” and is only one theory of what might have happened. He promised to provide further evidence as the investigation continues.
Lysenko also claimed Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian drone over rebel-held territory.
EU sanctions
EU foreign ministers decided Tuesday to draw up a list of increased sanctions against Russia, in an effort to convince it to stop supporting the separatists and help convince them to give international investigators access to the Malaysia Airlines wreckage.
But the plan does not go as far as some ministers had wanted, and Ukrainian spokesman Lysenko says sanctions have not had an impact.
Lysenko said the main indicator of the sanctions' effectiveness will be seen when Russian troops stop firing at Ukrainian forces across the border. He said cross-border shelling is nearly constant at night in some areas. He also accused Russian forces of staging high-speed moves toward the border as if they are going to invade, and then turning away just before crossing.
But he says the Ukrainian military is making good progress in areas farther from the Russian border, significantly shrinking the territory the rebels control in recent days.
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