http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/-sp-ukraine-rebel-igor-bezler-interview-demon
Ukrainian rebel says I wont hesitate to have you shot.
Ukrainian rebel says I wont hesitate to have you shot.
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A Malaysian Airline Boeing was shot down and crashed in Ukraine.
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International monitors reach MH17 crash site after days of fighting in eastern Ukraine
International delegation finally reach MH17 crash site after days of fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels prevented them from reaching the area
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 31 July, 2014, 7:16pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 31 July, 2014, 7:22pm
Agencies in Donetsk
OSCE member Alexander Hug talks talks to members of the press near Donetsk. Photo: EPA
Dutch and Australian experts accompanied by a team of international monitors on Thursday reached the crash site of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 after days of fierce fighting that had stopped them reaching the area.
“Monitors reach MH17 crash site for 1st time in almost week, accompanied by four Dutch and Australian experts. Used new route to access,” the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s monitoring mission in charge of facilitating the international probe wrote on Twitter.
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Fighting along the route to the wreckage site between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had for several days kept the delegation from reaching the area.
Kiev said on Thursday it had suspended offensive operations in its military campaign in the east to help international experts reach the downed Malaysian airliner’s crash site but separatists were continuing to attack its positions.
One journalist at the scene on Thursday said it appeared to be under the control of separatist rebel fighters.
Police and forensic experts from the Netherlands and Australia are expected to initially focus their efforts on retrieving bodies still on the site and collect victims’ belongings.
It remains unclear exactly how many bodies remain and what condition they are in after being exposed for so long to the elements.
Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday ratified deals with the Netherlands and Australia allowing them to send some 950 “armed personnel” to secure the crash site of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in war-torn east Ukraine.
The agreements allow the two countries to dispatch “military and non-military” personnel to the scene, although Dutch officials have previously said it would be “not realistic” to send troops in to bolster a team of police experts already on the ground.
Ukraine said on Thursday it had suspended offensive operations in its military campaign in east Ukraine to help international experts reach the downed Malaysian airliner’s crash site but separatists were continuing to attack its positions.
Kiev said on the Facebook website of what it calls its “anti-terrorist operation” [ATO] against pro-Russian rebels in the east that it was heeding calls by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to stop fighting near the plane crash site.
“On July 31, troops involved in the active ATO phase are not conducting military operations apart from protecting their own positions from attack,” it said. “But mercenary fighters of the Russian terrorists are not respecting any international agreements and requests.”
The rebels have accused Kiev of blocking access to the Malaysian MH17 flight crash site by fighting in the area.
“Ukraine continued to violate the ceasefire in the MH17 crash area, not allowing OSCE observers and experts from the Netherlands and Australia to enter the area,” said Sergei Kavtaradze, an aide to top rebel leader Aleksander Borodai.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appealed Thursday for an “immediate cessation” of fighting between Ukraine government forces and rebels around the crash site of flight MH17 near the Russian border.
“I ask the immediate cessation of the hostilities in and around the crash site by both Ukraine and separatist forces,” he said after talks with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in The Hague.
“We ask that all sides respect the lives lost and the integrity of the site. The long walk towards justice begins with this step.”
Tracing a perilous route to MH17 crash site
AFP
August 1, 2014, 8:55 am
Debaltseve (Ukraine) (AFP) - With hazards including blown-up railway bridges and unexploded shells and mines, the route chosen by international investigators to reach the MH17 crash site on Thursday was fraught with risks.
The government in Kiev had announced a "day of silence" to let the investigators work, but at one point a group of journalists following their convoy through rebel-controlled territory found the air filled with rapid bursts of shelling.
The team, consisting of Dutch and Australian experts as well as monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), left the rebel-held city of Donetsk early Thursday morning moving in a convoy of three white SUVs clearly marked with the OSCE logo.
Their round trip charted a wide arc of around 500 kilometres (300 miles), despite the crash site being only some 60 kilometres (40 miles) from their base in Donetsk. Much of the journey took them through idyllic countryside with fields of sunflowers and farmers making hay.
But the sense of danger was ever-present. Most of the handful of cars on the road carried signs to stop them being fired on -- either a piece of paper saying "children" on the windscreen or simply a white cloth hung from the window.
The convoy travelled down an eerily empty highway that had to be negotiated by driving across the grassy central reservation and weaving past rebel dugouts reinforced with logs and sandbags as well as dodging a shell lying on the tarmac.
It came across a railway bridge blown up in early July as a cargo train passed over. The train is still there.
In a long avenue of poplars, someone had hung up a wooden sign on one of the trees saying "mines".
A second exploded railway bridge had to be driven over. Sheets of metal had been laid over the gap to allow a car to pass over. Over the edge was a mess of smashed concrete.
The convoy passed into Ukrainian territory and soldiers in armoured vehicles drove past, some of them camouflaged with leaves; others flying the flag.
The OSCE paused en route at a makeshift Ukrainian army base in the small town of Debaltseve 75 kilometres (50 miles) from Donetsk where soldiers were staying in a roadside restaurant called Triumph with smashed windows and no electricity.
The monitors pored over maps, refuelled on coffee and ordered journalists to keep their distance and refrain from filming.
- Watch out for mines -
The Ukrainian army had several tanks and armoured vehicles parked in full view as the tarmac melted in the heat. One armoured vehicle had the slogan "God is with us" scrawled on the side.
"Our morale is good. We want to be able to go home," said one of the Ukrainian soldiers, Roman, from Dnepropetrovsk region.
Looking at a map of the region, he pointed out which towns were still occupied by rebels.
"We're close. We don't have any road back -- we're aiming for victory," he said.
After several hours the OSCE convoy carried on down a highway that eventually leads to Rostov-on-Don in Russia.
They came to a halt at the first rebel-held checkpoint around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the crash site at Grabove.
Fighters allowed through the OSCE convoy after some minutes but initially barred the journalists. One even fired his Kalashnikov in the air while another shouted: "We have an order!"
Journalists turned into a nearby village to ask if there was another way round: "Sorry, but it is maybe mined," a local man said of the only other road.
But on a second attempt to travel through the checkpoint, the journalists were waved through.
Minutes later, artillery blasts shook the air at alarmingly close range -- one exploding just 150 metres from the lead car -- prompting a retreat from the area.
The investigating team made it to the crash site, and the Ukrainian government has given guarantees that it will be able to work freely there in the coming days.
But with the situation on a knife-edge, their journeys will remain extremely tense.
MH17 site search resumes in Ukraine as Obama chides Putin over support for rebels
Australian and Dutch police were back at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight 17 for a second day, while the US criticised Russia for continuing to support rebels in Ukraine
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 02 August, 2014, 5:58pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 02 August, 2014, 5:58pm
Agence France-Presse in Grabove
International experts inspect wreckage at the crash site of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near Grabove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Photo: Reuters
International experts continued on Saturday with their painstaking probe at the crash site of downed flight MH17 in east Ukraine after US President Barack Obama called on Russia to heed international pressure to defuse the civil war tearing apart its neighbour.
Some 70 Dutch and Australian police experts were back for a second day scouring the vast scene with sniffer dogs for more human remains, while those leading the investigation have warned the grim task could take at least three weeks to complete.
The shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane more than two weeks ago, killing all 298 people on board, refocused world attention on the conflict in Ukraine and pushed the United States and European Union into imposing the toughest sanctions against Moscow since the end of the Cold War.
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Washington accuses insurgents of blowing the airliner out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile likely supplied by Russia, while Moscow and the rebels have pointed an accusatory finger at the Ukrainian military.
In a telephone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Obama expressed his “deep concerns” about Moscow’s increased support for separatist rebels waging a brutal conflict against Kiev that has claimed more than 1,150 lives.
“Right now what we’ve done is impose sufficient costs on Russia that, objectively speaking ... President Putin should want to resolve this diplomatically, to get these sanctions lifted, get their economy growing again, and have good relations with Ukraine,” Obama told an impromptu news conference.
“But sometimes people don’t always act rationally,” he added.
Separately, the Kremlin said the two leaders had agreed that the current stand-off in Ukraine – where pro-Russian rebels are battling government forces – was “not in the interest of either country”.
President Obama speaks about the conflict in Ukraine at the White House in Washington on Friday. Photo: AP
But Putin lashed out at the latest economic sanctions as “counterproductive, causing serious damage to bilateral cooperation and international stability overall,” the Kremlin said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott welcomed the recovery of more remains from the crash site after a bulk of the investigators managed for the first time on Friday to reach the site after being thwarted by days of clashes between government troops and rebel fighters.
More than 220 coffins have already been sent to the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens in the July 17 crash, but more body fragments remain lying out in the cornfields where the plane came down.
“It is good that ... we’ve had, for the first time, large numbers of Australian and Dutch police on site, large numbers of investigators on site who have been able to begin a thorough, professional search,” Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
But he warned that the probe at the crash site covering 20 square kilometres would be “a long and slow process”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at an opening ceremony for a monument to the Heroes of the first world war on Friday. Photo: AP
Even as the international team managed to begin work at the site, the fighting that had impeded their work continues to rage across eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military said that overnight its positions across the region had continued to come under rocket, tank and mortar fire.
No new casualties were reported but an ambush some 24 hours earlier in a town 25 kilometres from the MH17 site left 14 people dead, including at least 10 soldiers.
Government forces have made major gains over the past month and say they are getting close to cutting off the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk from the Russian border and a second insurgent bastion of Lugansk.
Despite mounting losses, Kiev’s bullish top brass have pledged to stamp out the insurgency in time for early parliamentary polls expected in the next few months, and have reiterated calls for the insurgents to lay down their arms.
“All those who want to leave Ukrainian towns and villages still have the possibility to run back to Russia,” army chief Valeriy Geletey said in televised comments.
Ukrainian servicemen transport a world war two tank seized from pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine. Photo: Reuters
“Believe me they are fleeing. We are getting calls saying ‘let us leave the towns’,” he said.
But analysts warn that fighting is unlikely to end soon, with rebel fighters reinforcing their positions in major cities and pledging to fight to the death.
And some EU diplomats have warned that recent sanctions could actually embolden Putin by convincing him he has nothing to lose by going all-out over the Ukraine crisis.
Stoking those fears, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said Russia was continuing to develop its military presence along the border with Ukraine.
US Vice-President Joe Biden, meanwhile, announced the United States was giving Ukraine US$8 million in new aid for the nation’s border guards.
Experts find more MH17 remains despite shelling in east Ukraine
AFP
August 3, 2014, 3:46 am
Grabove (Ukraine) (AFP) - International experts with sniffer dogs on Saturday recovered the remains of more victims from the downed Malaysia Airlines jet in east Ukraine despite shelling limiting access to some parts of the vast crash site.
Seventy Dutch and Australian police investigators spent the second day of their operation scouring more of the wreckage strewn over some 20 square kilometres (eight square miles), after only managing to screen a tiny patch previously.
"Today, because they had more time, the experts were able to comb through a bigger area," Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch police mission said.
"They again found human remains and personal belongings."
But while work continued undisturbed for the bulk of the experts, mortar fire forced a small team of investigators to hurriedly leave a village where more debris lay.
"We heard at a distance of approximately two kilometres incoming artillery from where we were and that was too close to continue," said Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Ukraine.
Government troops and pro-Moscow separatists battling across the war-torn region had pledged to halt fighting around the rebel-held site, where the plane was shot down over two weeks ago killing all 298 people on board.
The perilous security situation highlights the difficulties facing investigators as they try to recover remains and then puzzle together what happened, a grim task that those in charge say could take some three weeks.
The United States accuses insurgents of blowing the airliner out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile likely supplied by Russia, while Moscow and the rebels have pointed the finger at the Ukrainian military.
More than 220 coffins have already been sent back to the Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens in the July 17 crash, but more body fragments are still lying out in the cornfields where the plane came down.
The latest remains recovered are being sent to a waiting forensics team in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv by refrigerated van before being sent westwards, Dutch police said.
- 'Humanitarian catastrophe' -
Across the rest of the region the violence that has claimed some 1,150 lives since mid-April raged on.
Ukraine's military said its positions continued to come under heavy fire and that separatists had hit an army drone with a missile similar to the one they say downed MH17.
Government forces have made major gains over the past month and say they are getting close to cutting off the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk from the Russian border and a second insurgent bastion of Lugansk.
In the western outskirts of Donetsk an AFP journalist saw the body of one women lying dead in the street after a mortar shell tore through a residential area.
The fighting has taken a heavy toll on civilians and the mayor in the besieged industrial hub of Lugansk warned that the city was "on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe" as electricity failed and water and fuel ran low.
- International demos -
A poignant memorial to those killed on flight MH17 of two canal boats carrying white-clad colleagues of six AIDS campaigners killed in the tragedy marked a sombre start to the traditionally flamboyant Amsterdam Gay Pride parade on Saturday.
At the same time hundreds of Russians gathered at a pro-rebels demonstration in Moscow calling on President Vladimir Putin to "take action" and send troops to protect the people and maintain peace in east Ukraine.
In a telephone call with Putin on Friday, US President Barack Obama expressed his "deep concerns" about Moscow's increased support for the separatist fighters.
Obama said he hoped Putin would heed international pressure to defuse the crisis and help Russia's economy stave off the threat of recession caused by the sanctions.
"But sometimes people don't always act rationally," Obama warned.
The Kremlin said the two leaders had agreed that the standoff was "not in the interest of either country".
Putin -- who views Ukraine's pivot westwards as a fundamental threat to Russia -- lashed out at the latest punitive sanctions against Moscow by the United States and the European Union as "counterproductive", damaging bilateral cooperation and international stability.
Some EU diplomats have warned that the sanctions could actually embolden Putin by convincing him he has nothing to lose by going all-in over the Ukraine crisis.
Stoking those fears, the Pentagon and NATO have said Russia was continuing to reinforce its military presence along the border with Ukraine.
Abbott warns of long wait for MH17 victims
AAP
Julian Drape, AAP Europe Correspondent August 9, 2014, 5:44 pm
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Australians who lost loved ones in the MH17 disaster that the process of bringing bodies home may take time.
Mr Abbott leaves on Saturday night for talks in the Netherlands with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte.
He will also meet disaster victim identification experts and some of the 500-strong team involved in Operation Bring Them Home.
Mr Abbott said he would formally thank Rutte for his country's leadership in the wake of the plane tragedy, in which 298 people died.
But he has also warned the bereaved in Australia to brace for a long wait.
It took months for the final Australian victim of the Bali bombings to be identified and brought home, he said.
The identification process will take place as quickly as possible, but it would regretfully and of necessity be a very slow process, Mr Abbott said in Sydney on Saturday.
"The bodies are inevitably very badly damaged by an explosion at 33,000 feet, the subsequent deceleration, decompression and fall ... I hate to talk in such terms but that's what we're talking about," he said.
The government has already offered to fly victims' next of kin to the Netherlands to accompany the bodies back to Australia.
"It's very important that we accord to these people, so cruelly cut down, dignity and respect in death that they certainly weren't accorded by the Russian-backed rebels who shot their plane out of the sky," Mr Abbott said.
The prime minister will then head to London for talks with the British government and officials about counter-terrorism operations and the deteriorating situation in Iraq.
On Friday forensic experts said they had identified a further 21 victims of flight MH17 to add to the two already identified.
The latest group comprises 16 Dutch, including a dual British national, two Malaysians, a German, a Canadian and a Briton.
The search for remains at the crash site has been suspended due to escalating clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government should be whole-heartedly focused on repatriating Australian bodies and ensuring the safety of investigators.
"If Tony Abbott believes that travelling to the Netherlands will help that, then of course he should and we support him being there," he said in a statement to AAP on Saturday.
First MH17 crash report 'in weeks': Dutch investigators
AFP
August 12, 2014, 1:21 am
The Hague (AFP) - Dutch air crash investigators said Monday they expect to release an initial report into what brought down flight MH17 over Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives "in a few weeks".
There were 193 Dutch citizens aboard the Malaysia Airlines 777 when it exploded over strife-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17 and the Dutch are in charge of victim identification and probing the cause of the disaster.
The West has accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the jet with a missile supplied by Russia. Moscow has accused Ukraine of shooting it down.
"We have sufficient information to compile a preliminary report," said Wim van der Weegen, spokesman for the Dutch Safety Board (OVV).
"We hope that it will be ready in a few weeks," he told AFP, announcing that international crash investigators had now returned to the Netherlands without visiting the crash site.
"In order to analyse the information... it's not essential to remain in Ukraine," Van der Weegen told AFP, saying the team will now be based in The Hague.
Ukranian air crash experts, who are taking part in the international probe, had been at the crash site shortly after the crash, before the Dutch were tasked with leading the investigation, Van der Weegen said.
The deteriorating security situation prevented crash investigators under the OVV's leadership from reaching the remote site, although Dutch, Australian and Malaysian forensic experts did reach the area to look for body parts and personal belongings.
"Since we've taken over the investigation, there has been no new opportunity to get to the crash site," Van der Weegen said.
The OVV said in a statement that it was only investigating what brought down flight MH17, not who was responsible.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte last Wednesday called off the search for body parts as a result of escalating fighting between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists.
Van der Weegen said enough sources were available including cockpit voice recorders, flight data recorders (black boxes), radar details and information from air traffic controllers.
"We have enough information (for a preliminary report), but we would like to return to the crash site to verify some of our findings and get additional information," he said.
First Malaysian bodies from MH17 crash fly home
AFP
August 22, 2014, 1:54 am
The Hague - A plane carrying the bodies of 20 Malaysian victims of flight MH17, which crashed in Ukraine in July, has taken off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur, Dutch media reported.
There was no ceremony for the departure from Schiphol airport, local news agency ANP reported, with the plane to land in Malaysia on Friday, which has been declared a day of national mourning.
The plane will be met by Malaysia's king, prime minister and other dignitaries accompanied by a minute of silence at Kuala Lumpur's main international airport, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said last week.
The remains will then be taken to the hometowns of the victims' next-of-kin to be laid to rest.
The remains of victims aboard MH17 are stowed. Photo: AAP
The Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine on July 17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 on board.
More than 220 coffins filled with remains have been taken to the Netherlands for identification.
Of those aboard, 193 were Dutch and 43 were Malaysians, including 15 crew members.
A total of 28 Malaysian victims have been identified in the Netherlands, which is in charge of the identification process.
Some victims may never be identified after the search for body parts was called off at the crash site because of ongoing fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Push to return forensic teams to MH17 site
AAP
By Nick Perry September 6, 2014, 4:59 pm
Australia and Malaysia have signalled their intention to send investigators back to the MH17 crash site in war-torn eastern Ukraine before winter.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his counterpart Najib Razak on Saturday agreed to intensify their efforts to recover any human remains still at the crash site and return them to their loved ones.
Australian investigators were forced to suspend their search in August as fighting around the crash site intensified.
It was envisioned they would return but a timeline was never set.
But there could be fresh urgency to get forensic experts back on the ground, with Mr Najib declaring they'd need "at least a few weeks" to scour the vast impact zone for any remaining evidence.
"We intend to send our teams to the crash site as soon as possible," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur following a meeting with Mr Abbott.
"We are very, very keen to re-enter the crash site, especially before winter sets in."
Both leaders agreed that obtaining further evidence from the site would be crucial for building a criminal case to punish those responsible for the attack.
Australia has pointed the finger at Russia, accusing it of arming the separatists in eastern Ukraine suspected of downing the passenger plane.
Nearly 300 people - including 38 Australian citizens and residents - were killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July.
The first bodies of the Australian victims from the tragedy arrived back home earlier this week.
Mr Abbott said it was likely there were still human remains at the crash site and the families of those who died deserved justice and closure.
"We want to be absolutely confident that everything has been done to ensure that no one is left untended and alone," he said.
Mr Abbott also provided an update on the next phase of the Australian-led search for missing plane MH370, due to begin in a fortnight.
It's been six months since the plane disappeared without a trace and exhaustive search efforts in the Indian Ocean have so far turned up nothing.
Earlier in the day he thanked Malaysian officials in person for their "courage and resilience" dealing with the twin disasters.
The two leaders also discussed the rise of terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, with Mr Najib emphatically condemning Islamic extremism.
Mr Abbott will return home on Sunday after a three-day trip to India and Malaysia.
MH17 ‘split into pieces during flight’ when pierced by ‘high-speed objects’: Dutch report
Interim findings consistent with Boeing 777 being shot down by missile as it flew between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 09 September, 2014, 4:12pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 09 September, 2014, 5:32pm
Agence France-Presse in The Hague
Debris from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash lies strewn across fields near the village of Rozsypne in eastern Ukraine. Photo: EPA
A Malaysian passenger jet broke apart in mid-air over eastern Ukraine after being hit by numerous “high speed objects,” according to an interim report published on Tuesday into the disaster that claimed 298 lives.
Malaysia Airlines flight 17 “broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside,” said a highly anticipated report by the Dutch Safety Board.
The findings appear to back up claims that the Boeing 777, which crashed in July as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was hit by shrapnel from a missile.
“There are no indications that the MH17 crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew,” the report said.
Kiev and the West have accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Moscow.
The Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky over eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, killing all on board including 193 Dutch citizens. Photo: EPA
But Russia, which denies mounting Western claims of direct involvement in the five-month conflict in Ukraine, blamed government forces for the attack.
The MH17 disaster was the second tragedy for Malaysia Airlines after the mysterious disappearance of flight 370 in March, and threw the global spotlight back on the bloody uprising in eastern Ukraine.
The majority of people on board were Dutch citizens.
The report was issued just a day after the EU announced it was adopting new sanctions on Russia over its role in the conflict in its western neighbour that has killed over 3,000 people including the MH17 victims.
Dutch investigators have been unable to visit the rebel-controlled site in the Donetsk region because of the fighting, and have relied on information from Ukrainian crash specialists for information from the scene.
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The findings are based on information from the aircraft’s black boxes, and pictures and video taken at the scene, as well as information supplied by Ukrainian air traffic control.
The Dutch Safety Board the OVV said a full report is not expected until mid-next year.
Shortly after the crash forensic experts travelled to the site to collect body parts, but the search has also been suspended due to heavy fighting in the area.
So far only 193 victims of flight 17 have been identified.
Air crash investigators hope they may be able to return to the crash site if a ceasefire agreed on Friday between the Ukrainian government and the separatist rebels holds.
Kiev has accused the insurgents of repeated violations of the tenuous truce, and on Tuesday the government said four soldiers had been killed and 29 wounded since Friday.
It also reported that the government-controlled airport outside the main insurgent stronghold of Donetsk was hit by rocket and mortar fire overnight.
A woman was also killed on Saturday when rebels launched attacks on the southeastern port city of Mariupol, a key battleground since the insurgents launched a dramatic counter-offensive in the southeast last month.
The European Union agreed new sanctions against Moscow on Monday, but said they could be suspended if the truce does not collapse.
“Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part,” European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Moscow would react to any new punitive steps with an “asymmetrical” measure that could see EU airlines banned from flying over the world’s largest country’s airspace.
A pro-Russian separatist stands at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region. Photo: Reuters
Diplomats said the new EU restrictions bar Russia’s largest state-owned oil and defence firms from using European markets to raise capital and slap more asset freezes and travel bans on officials
However, both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko have vowed to work to uphold the so-called “protocol” signed in Minsk, the first ceasefire backed by both Kiev and Moscow.
The Kremlin said the two leaders – who often speak by phone despite only having met twice since Poroshenko’s election in May – agreed to continue discussing “steps to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the situation in southeast Ukraine”.
Poroshenko paid a highly symbolic visit to Mariupol on Monday, vowing that the port city on a key route between Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula would remain in government hands.
“It is our land. We will not give it up to anyone,” he said.
Mariupol has been on edge fearing a full-on offensive by rebels who advanced across the southeast in late August apparently backed by Russian troops and firepower, quickly reversing recent Ukrainian gains.
Poroshenko said there had been 10-12 truce violations a day and called on the OSCE, the pan-European security body that brokered the deal, to send observers to the “dangerous” spots where violence had flared.
Officials also announced on Monday that around 650 Ukrainians held by rebels had been released, one of the conditions of the 12-point Minsk accord.
MH17 crash site still too unsafe for investigators, says Dutch defence minister
PUBLISHED : Friday, 12 September, 2014, 10:33am
UPDATED : Friday, 12 September, 2014, 10:33am
Agence France-Presse in The Hague
A man gestures as he rides a bicycle past a large piece of wreckage of the downed Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
The site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crashed two months ago is still too unsafe for investigators to resume the recovery of victims’ remains, Dutch Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said on Thursday.
A ceasefire between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces “is being violated and its existence remains fragile,” she said in a statement issued in The Hague.
“At this moment the situation is not stable enough to resume the investigation,” the minister said after meeting her Malaysian counterpart Hishammuddin Hussein.
Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crashed on July 17 between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it was struck by what investigators determined were numerous “high-energy objects” over territory held by pro-Moscow separatists, killing all 298 on board.
The findings released in an initial report by a Dutch-led team of air crash investigators on Tuesday appear to back up claims that the Boeing 777 was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
Kiev and the West have accused separatists of shooting it down with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Moscow.
Moscow and the rebels deny this and point the finger at Kiev.
Initially, forensic experts travelled to the crash site near the town of Grabove to collect body parts, but the search has been suspended for a month because of heavy fighting in the area.
Forensic experts hope to return to the site if the ceasefire holds and before the onset of winter.
The ceasefire signed last Friday – the first backed by both Kiev and Moscow since fighting erupted across Ukraine’s industrial heartland in April – has so far held despite accusations of violations on both sides.
The Netherlands lost 193 citizens, Malaysia lost 43 and Australia 27.
So far 193 crash victims had been identified in total.
Hishammuddin in Moscow on Wednesday also called for experts to carry out a final search at the crash site.
“We are in agreement,” Hennis-Plasschaert said after the meeting in The Hague.
“We still have people who are closely watching developments. As soon as we can, we’ll return to the crash site together,” she said.
Long road to justice for relatives of MH17 victims
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 14 September, 2014, 4:39am
UPDATED : Sunday, 14 September, 2014, 4:39am
SCMP Editorial
Long road to justice for relatives of MH17 victims
The preliminary report of an investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 falls well short of bringing closure to those mourning the deaths of the 298 people on board. It found the Boeing 777 aircraft was likely penetrated from the outside by multiple "high energy objects" before breaking up in flight over war-torn eastern Ukraine, which is consistent with a missile strike. The report stopped short of saying that, but no one is suggesting anything else. Despite denials, suspicion remains confined to pro-Russian, Moscow-armed separatist rebels and their backers.
The Dutch Safety Board - most of the victims were Dutch - completed the preliminary report in less than two months, without being able to visit the war-ravaged crash site. Investigators are now aiming for a definitive report within a year of the crash on July 17.
Lamentably, barring the unlikely event that anyone admits knowledge of the atrocity, full closure will be elusive, not to mention a long and arduous journey. We need only recall the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, in which an American aircraft crashed in Scotland with the loss of 270 lives, and the 11 years before a Libyan intelligence officer was brought to justice, to see just how long. And, forensically at least, that was a relatively straightforward case of an on-board bomb and an accessible crash site. Libya may have been uncooperative, but investigation of aviation crimes involving several parties including armed combatants can be even messier.
In place of informed speculation, we now have evidence that would convince any reasonable person that a surface-to-air missile downed MH17. Hopefully officials can draw on any lessons from the Lockerbie affair, and on the air-safety expertise of other interested parties, to keep the investigation process on track. An independent and truly impartial investigation is the only way to determine the truth. Claims of bias may yet obstruct justice and closure. In that case, the United Nations could be asked to set up a special independent panel.
Families of German MH17 victims to sue Ukraine president over downed flight
Lawsuit demands 1 million euros for each of four German victims as relatives take Ukraine to task for failing to close air space during conflict
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 21 September, 2014, 7:27pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 21 September, 2014, 7:31pm
Agence France-Presse in Berlin
A woman, who said her sister was on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, cries upon news of the airplane's disappearance. Photo: Reuters
Relatives of German victims of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 plan to sue Ukraine and its president for criminal negligence for not closing the country’s airspace, a lawyer said on Sunday.
Elmar Giemulla, an attorney and professor of aviation law who is representing three German families, said he would file suit soon before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
“Every country bears the responsibility for the security of its airspace,” he wrote in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
“By keeping its airspace open for transit by aircraft from other countries, the state must ensure the safety of the flights. If this is temporarily impossible, it means that it should close its airspace.”
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 exploded over insurgent-held east Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board, 193 of them Dutch.
Four were German, according to the airline.
The findings of an initial report by a Dutch-led team of air crash investigators appear to back up claims that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
Kiev and the West have accused separatists of shooting it down with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia -- a charge Moscow denies.
Giemulla said in an e-mail he would file the lawsuit against the Ukrainian government and President Petro Poroshenko alleging 298 counts of manslaughter by negligence in about two weeks, and seek damages for pain and suffering of at least one million euros (HK$9.8 million) per victim.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (right) with the Dutch ambassador to Ukraine lay flowers for MH17 victims. Photo: AFP
He said the litigation would not target Russia as “the evidence was not yet sufficient” but added that he did not rule out launching a lawsuit against Moscow in future.
Air crash investigators so far have studied photos of the crash site, radar data and information gleaned from the downed jet's "black boxes" - its cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. They all indicated that there was no technical fault that may have caused the plane to disintegrate.
The cockpit voice recorder "revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation", the board said. "Neither were any warning tones heard in the cockpit that might have pointed to technical problems."
The site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crashed two months ago is still too unsafe for investigators to resume the recovery of victims’ remains, Dutch Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has said.
Initially, forensic experts travelled to the crash site near the town of Grabove to collect body parts, but the search has been suspended for a month because of heavy fighting in the area.
Forensic experts hope to return to the site if the ceasefire holds and before the onset of winter.
The Netherlands lost 193 citizens, Malaysia lost 43 and Australia 27.
So far, 193 crash victims had been identified in total.
With additional reporting from Agencies
Passenger on downed flight MH17 was wearing oxygen mask: investigators
Questions raised about how much those on board downed flight knew about their fate
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 09 October, 2014, 11:07pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 09 October, 2014, 11:07pm
Associated Press in The Hague
Debris of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash site, near the village of Rozsypne in Eastern Ukraine. Photo: EPA
The body of a passenger of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was found wearing an oxygen mask raising questions about how much those on board knew about their fate when the plane plunged out of the sky above eastern Ukraine in July.
The passenger, an Australian, did not have the mask on his face, but its elastic strap was around his neck, according to the Dutch National Prosecutor's Office which is carrying out a criminal investigation into the air disaster.
Spokesman Wim de Bruin said Dutch forensic experts investigated the mask "for fingerprints, saliva and DNA and that did not produce any results. So it is not known how or when that mask got around the neck of the victim".
De Bruin said no other bodies recovered from the wreckage were found wearing masks. He did not know where in the plane the Australian victim was sitting.
All 298 passengers and crew died when the jet flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17. Dutch air crash investigators said last month that it was likely to have been struck by multiple "high-energy objects from outside the aircraft", which some aviation experts say is consistent with a strike by a missile. Rebel leaders deny shooting it down.
Relatives of the Australian passenger were told about the mask as soon as it was discovered, but others heard about it for the first time on Dutch television when Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans mentioned it during an interview on a late-night talk show on Wednesday.
The Foreign Ministry later said he regretted his comments.
Timmermans said: "I have an enormous amount of sympathy for the next-of-kin. The last thing I want to do is compound their suffering in this way."
Netherlands says 10 more MH17 passengers identified
AFP
October 11, 2014, 5:10 am
The Hague (AFP) - Medical experts have now identified 272 of the 298 people aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down in Ukraine in July, the Dutch justice ministry said Friday.
Ten more people were identified this week of whom seven held Dutch nationality, the ministry said in a statement, adding that their relatives would be informed.
It did not reveal the nationalities of the three others, per requests from the embassies concerned.
The information was given after Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans revealed that the body of one of the people on the plane was found with an oxygen mask around his neck.
The passenger was identified as an Australian passenger in media reports.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17 while flying over insurgent-held territory in conflict-wracked eastern Ukraine.
Forensics experts suspended their search for bodies due to clashes between Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels near the crash site northeast of Donetsk, but said they hoped to return once the fighting died down.
Malaysia to join criminal investigation team of MH17 incident
Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-11-5 17:09:19
Malaysia would become a full member of the MH17 criminal investigation team led by the Netherlands, according to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his visiting Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte here Wednesday.
Najib said at the joint press conference that the level of Malaysia's participation in the investigation work would become more evident in the future.
On his part, Rutte said that as Malaysia had lost many people in the terrible disaster and the plane was carrying Malaysia's flag, it was logical that Malaysia should get involved.
Najib extended his appreciation to the government of the Netherlands for its support and assistance in dealing with the MH17 incident. The two leaders agreed that the priority was to recover the wreckage to make the final report on the tragedy.
Najib also said that Malaysia was committed to bring the perpetrators of MH17 to justice, for which they would do everything possible.
Rutte said that although the conditions on the ground remained difficult, they were determined to achieve their common goals, which were repatriating the human remains and personal belongings, investigating the facts of the disaster and conducting the criminal investigation.
"Now it is essential for us to continue working together closely and keep the subject high on the international agenda," he added.
Rutte said that the case of the downing of MH17 was unlikely to proceed to the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming that the ICC was not the most suitable court.
Rutte, who took Malaysia Airlines flight MH19 to Malaysia, said that there was no specific reason for his choice other than that it was the best connection between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur.
He said that there was a special meaning as MH19 flied the same route and schedule as MH17 did, but there was no specific reason for his choice.
Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
There were 193 Dutch nationals and 44 Malaysians among the passengers on board, and the remains of all the Malaysian victims have been identified.
Dutch commemorate MH17 disaster
Source: Xinhua Published: 2014-11-11 9:57:54
The flags of the affected countries blow at half-mast before the Rai Conference Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Nov. 10, 2014. The Netherlands commemorated the victims of the MH17 flight disaster in eastern Ukraine with a national remembrance ceremony in Amsterdam on Monday. Photo: Xinhua
The Netherlands commemorated the victims of the MH17 flight disaster in eastern Ukraine with a national remembrance ceremony in Amsterdam on Monday.
The flags of the affected countries blew at half-mast before the Rai conference center in Amsterdam, under a clear blue sky. The look on the faces of the attendees didn't show sunshine, but deep grief. They lost their loved ones during the Malaysia Airlines crash on July 17. All 298 passengers died, 196 of them were Dutch.
Around 1,600 relatives of the MH17 flight disaster victims attended the remembrance ceremony. To avoid media attention they entered the building from a different entrance than the officials, who were awaited by a lot of media from the Netherlands and abroad.
One by one they entered the building, including members of the Dutch parliament, ministers of the government, foreign ambassadors, mayors of municipalities, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans, his successor Bert Koenders and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The final cars to arrive belonged to the royal family, King Willem-Alexander was accompanied by his wife Queen Maxima and his mother Princess Beatrix.
The ceremony started at 1 pm with opening music by composer Ludwig von Beethoven, followed by a word of welcome by the master of ceremonies and a speech by Rutte.
"What if...?" were Rutte's first words. "What if their holiday had started a day earlier? What if the flight had been delayed? What if I wake up and find it's all been a bad dream."
"It's a question that has no answer, because there is no what if," Rutte added. "There is only the harsh reality of 298 deaths, 298 people. 196 of them are Dutch. Their lives will never be finished. Their voices will never be heard again. Their presence, their talents, their friendship and their love. It has all been taken from you."
Rutte finished with words of hope. "What if you succeed in finding comfort and hope in their legacy, in all good they leave behind? What if the courage to go on lies in those everlasting and loving memories. We wish that for you. With all our hearts."
After Rutte, some of the relatives of the victims took the floor.
"We had a wonderful son in Oscar, an amazing daughter in Miranda. And in our youngest grandson, Remco, we had a hero of our own," said Anton Kotte.
"I'm standing here because my mother died in the air disaster," 13-year-old Gita Wiegel said. "She was not only a mother to me, but also my best friend, my buddy and housemate."
"Next week my parents would have celebrated their birthdays, as they did every year, with the whole family," SuzeAnn Bakker said.
"Though we miss our parents dreadfully, we are grateful that we still have each other and our memories. And so, next week, we will celebrate our parents' birthday. Like we do every year. Together," said Bakker.
One of the relatives read out a poem. "Why?" was the appropriate title and question of Paul Marckelbach.
One of the most heartbreaking parts of the ceremony was the mentioning of the names of all 298 victims by more than 30 relatives, sometimes direct relatives calling the names of their loved ones.
After more music, one minute of silence and the playing of the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus, the ceremony ended with closing music by Robert Schumann, with photographs of the victims shown on a wall. The official remembrance ceremony was closed, but an informal gathering with relatives started until around 4.30 pm.
Tony Abbott, Vladimir Putin urge faster probe into downing of flight MH17
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 11 November, 2014, 10:46pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 12 November, 2014, 9:48am
Agence France-Presse in Moscow
Abbott failed to "shirtfront" Putin in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
President Vladimir Putin and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday urged a quicker probe into the MH17 crash but the two leaders appeared to avoid a diplomatic butting of heads, the Kremlin said.
Abbott had famously vowed to "shirtfront" Putin - an Australian Rules football term in which a player charges an opponent - over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July, in which 298 people died in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, including 38 citizens and residents from Australia.
"The catastrophe of the Malaysian airliner was the main topic of discussion between Vladimir Putin and Tony Abbott," the Kremlin said in a statement after the leaders met at the Apec summit in Beijing.
"The leaders have robustly spoken out in favour of speeding up the investigation of the reasons for the tragedy. The unacceptability of a situation when experts cannot get to the crash site has been noted.
"Vladimir Putin stressed that from the very beginning Russia consistently demanded that the investigation be unbiased, quick and effective."
Separately, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Abbott did not appear to deliver on his threat: "It appears that he did not try."
Anger at Putin was so fierce after the MH17 tragedy - Kiev and the West say the plane was blown out of the sky with a missile supplied by Russia - that some said Putin should be banned from coming to Australia.
But Abbott also wants the G20 summit in Brisbane this weekend to stay focused on its economic remit, and sought instead to meet Putin in Beijing, to get the MH17 conversation out of the way at Apec first.
Workers in Ukraine collect debris from downed Malaysia Airlines flight
PUBLISHED : Monday, 17 November, 2014, 4:55am
UPDATED : Monday, 17 November, 2014, 8:30am
Associated Press in Hrabove
MH17 wreckage is loaded on to a truck yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Recovery workers in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine began to collect debris from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 yesterday, four months after the plane was brought down.
The operation is being carried out under the supervision of Dutch investigators and officials from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The recovered fragments will be loaded onto trains and ferried to the government-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The investigation into the cause of the crash is being conducted there and in the Netherlands.
Alexander Kostrubitsky, the head of the emergency services in rebel-held areas of Donetsk region, said the gathering of debris could take about 10 days. The debris was being sawn into smaller pieces to facilitate its transportation, Kostrubitsky said.
All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when it was shot down on July 17 over a rebel-held area.
Investigations and recovery operations have been delayed amid continued fighting between government troops and separatist fighters, despite a September truce.
Ukraine and the West have blamed the downing of MH17 on Russia-backed separatists using a ground-to-air missile.
Russian state television released a satellite photograph it claims shows that a Ukrainian fighter jet shot down the airliner. But the US dismissed the report as preposterous and commentators called the photo a crude fake.
The photo released on Friday by Russia's Channel One and Rossiya purportedly shows a Ukrainian fighter firing a missile in the direction of MH17. The stations said they got the photo from a Moscow-based organisation.
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