Malaysian B.777 MH One Seven downed over Ukraine.

 Dutch government to file suit against Russia over downing of MH17  

 

The Dutch government on Friday said it would file a suit against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over the downing of Malaysia Airlines passenger flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine six years ago.

Great news but, still, it’s sad that no responsibilities are charged on those that let the plane fly above a conflict zone where high altitude SAM’s were spotted earlier. And it’s not like they were spotted only a couple of hours before this dramatic war incident.

Latest news regarding 4 men charged with the shooting down of MH17. https://apnews.com/edf7789c33b645a7bd759e2bd34081d8

The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.

For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.

All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.

But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: “All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces.”

He restated the JIT’s conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country’s 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.
At a news conference in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the investigators also showed social media pictures which they said traced the route the missile convoy had taken to reach eastern Ukraine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402

More details:

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/mh17-missile-transporter-originated-from-kursk-brig-448862/

No sign of Buk missile on radar display: MH17: Missile could have evaded radar detection

While no Buk missile can be detected on the Russian radar images – a fact pointed out by the Russian government, which has put forward alternative theories on the loss of MH17 – the analysis identified several reasons for its absence.
The Buk missile is capable of speeds in excess of 2,600km/h and this supersonic velocity is far beyond those typically being processed by civil aviation surveillance systems.
“Display filters could limit the visibility – this is to avoid clutter on the radar image,” the analysis adds. “The consequence is that, therefore, a Buk cannot be seen.”
Russian authorities supplied radar data in its original format as well as data converted to the standard ‘Asterix’ format. Investigators believe there is “no reason to assume” that conversion resulted in the loss of any relevant information, but the analysis nevertheless covered both data sets.
[…]
Investigators had sought data from a second radar station, sited at Baturinskaya, but none has been supplied by the Russian government.

Source:
FlightGlobal.com

The war of words by the paper tigers.

Russia denying justice to MH17 victims: PM

[Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull] insists his government is doing everything it can to deliver justice for the 38 Australians killed in the the 2014 attack over eastern Ukraine.
He said he knew one of the Australians killed: “A beautiful nun, actually, who taught my daughter.”
“They have not got justice yet and we’re doing everything we can to deliver it, but the justice is being denied by the Russian government, that’s the reality,” Mr Turnbull told 2GB radio on Thursday.

Source:
9News.au

Yes I don’t know who they were trying to BS, the Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down air-to-air and took over 20 minutes to crash (R.I.P.)

And of course, one always wonders about the “truth” put out by “authorities”.

We had some mention of this in the thread. You may want to start here for a refresh.

This began after the Russian radar data showed a post shotdown contact (as emphasized by the Russian command) right after the hit airliner start to fall appart. Nothing serious came after those prompted accusations (the plane was shot down by a SAM as we all know). But it doesn’t mean that no plane were ever shadowing MH17, a Frog or anything else with appropriate ECM.

I actually missed the part about Russia claiming it was an air-to-air shootdown. Very sad this poor guy lost his life and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made to look like a suicide.

Ukraine [Frogfoot] pilot blamed by Russia ‘kills himself’

A statement from Mykolaiv police on Facebook (in Ukrainian) described Voloshyn’s death as “suicide”, but it is being investigated under the “premeditated murder” section of Ukraine’s penal code.
A military service pistol was found at the scene and is now being examined by experts.

Yuriy Butusov, a Ukrainian journalist, who knew Voloshyn well, commended the pilot after the news of his death, as an ideal airman who had fought bravely against the Russian-backed rebels. Butusov expressed astonishment over his death.
“Dear Vlad, how can this be?! Why?!” he said. “He didn’t let himself break down, he wasn’t depressed at all — he always acted as an exemplary officer.”
According to Butusov, the fighter pilot had bombed Russian paratroops during the battle of Ilovaisk in August 2014, a battle considered to be one of the bloodiest in the Donbass conflict. Over 300 Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly killed while fighting there.
Butusov added that Voloshyn had been shot down but ultimately taken out from his Su-25, and reached Ukrainian lines despite being severely injured.
“I didn’t hear him speak of any enemies or unresolved problems,” he said, adding that the deceased fighter pilot was happily married and is survived by his wife, a boy and two-year-old girl, according to the BBC

Sources:
The BBC.com
IBT.com

Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, Holland to sign MH17 document detailing future steps of action

Foreign Ministers of the countries whose investigative authorities together make up the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) – Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Ukraine and the Netherlands – will sign a document on the case of Boeing 777 flight MH17 in New York next week.

Ukrainian ambassador to Malaysia Olexander Nechytaylo said the signing of the document, which defines detailed steps and actions for all participating countries, will be held on the sidelines of 72nd UN General Assembly.

Before that we had Russia handing over additional radar data

additional radar information “should now be” in the required format, and will be “examined in depth” by the joint investigation team.

Radar data has been a contentious issue in the probe into the loss of the Boeing 777-200ER

Source:
https://www.malaysiakini.com/
FlightGlobal.com

Russia slowly distancing itself from rebels potential actions

[London lawyer, Samuel Wordsworth QC, leads Russia’s defense in the ICJ ] argued that “there is no evidence before the court, plausible or otherwise, that Russia provided weaponry to any party with the intent or knowledge that such weaponry be used to shoot down civilian aircraft, as would be required under Article 2.1.b.” In fact, per Wordsworth: “Whoever was allegedly supplying this Buk [missile system] was acting in response to a series of armed strikes by Ukraine’s military aircraft.” The intent, therefore, was not to shoot down a civilian aircraft but to take out aggressive Ukrainian military aircraft.

Source:
Forbes.com

Russia hands over missing radar data

Today in FlightGlobal.com

MH17 inquiry grapples with Russian radar-data format

data from Russia has not been provided in [ASTERIX – Eurocontrol proprietary] format, says the prosecutor’s office. While separate software can aid the image analysis, it states, this has to be translated from Russian and then tested.

The translation and familiarisation work has been time-consuming, the office says, and only after it was completed could the radar data analysis begin, and further time and support is needed to progress with this wor

TomcatVIP, your link leads to a subscriber-only page – I cannot access it.

Russia hands over missing radar data

Russia on Wednesday handed over files about the MH17 plane disaster to Dutch investigators, justice minister Ard van der Steur told MPs.

‘A package of information was handed over to the Dutch authorities by the Russian public prosecution department at 3pm Dutch time,’ Van der Steur said.

Source:
DutchNews.nl

MH17: Dutch criminal investigation results ready Sept. 28

Source:
NL times.com

(Reminder)

Also:
Malaysian PM: Committed to justice for downing of MH-17

Speaking in Berlin after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel, [Najib] Razak says after Dutch authorities release the criminal investigation results, the countries involved will discuss the next course of action based upon the findings.

He says “we remain committed to … bring those people responsible to justice.”

Source:
CTV News.ca

It was more than sad and annoying. It probably helped to delay completion of the investigations by the Dutch safety board and by the JIT.

Late on the evening of the day on which MH17 was shot down, a Jane’s representative told the BBC that the likely culprit was a Buk launcher, perhaps operating in solo mode without the normal support of a Command Post (CP) vehicle and ‘Snow Drift’ Target Acquisition Radar vehicle. Nothing subsequently emerged to suggest a viable alternative theory.

However a growing number of ill-conceived or even deliberately-misleading theories on how the aircraft was shot down did have one unfortunate effect, a source close to the investigation told me. As each emerged, the investigators had to add it to their workload. There had been no shortage of claims that the investigators were overlooking evidence that supported alternative theories. So although the recovery of recognisable Buk warhead fragments from recovered bodies had been an early indication of how the aircraft was downed, each theory (no matter how crazy) had to be officially considered, then investigated to the point where it could be disproved and dismissed.

I still find it sad and annoying that despite the excellent, comprehensive report the Dutch wrote that shows exactly how MH17 was brought down, there are still those that think it’s a cover up.

MH17: Dutch criminal investigation results ready Sept. 28

The Joint Investigation Team working on the criminal investigation into the downing of flight MH17 in the Ukraine in 2014, will release the first results of the investigation on September 28th, RTL Nieuws reports.

Source:
NL times.com