A Dutch court on Thursday found that a Russian missile was responsible for the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down in 2014 over eastern Ukraine that killed nearly 300 people.
“The court is of the opinion that MH17 was brought down by the firing of a BUK missile from a farm field near Pervomaisk, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members,” presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said according to Reuters.
People stand next to the wreckages of the malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine, on July 17, 2014.
(Photo credit should read DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP via Getty Images)
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The news that a flight traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine immediately captured the world’s attention as tension in eastern in southern Ukraine remained high following Russia’s invasion and subsequent seizure of Crimea earlier that year.
Dutch judges are set to pass a verdict Thursday on three Russians and one Ukrainian suspected of firing the missile from an agricultural field in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
REIJEN, NETHERLANDS – MAY 26: Lawyers attend the judges’ inspection of the reconstruction of the MH17 wreckage, as part of the murder trial ahead of the beginning of a critical stage, on May 26, 2021 in Reijen, Netherlands.
(Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw – Pool/Getty Images)
Steenhuis said also that the court believed Moscow had control of the separatist region at the time of attack.
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The judge said he would later rule on the guilt or innocence of the four individuals involved in the missile strike as well as other legal issues.
Check back on this developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
