UNITED NATIONS, New York: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has “taken note with concern of the latest report” on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Speaking to journalists on Friday at the UN headquarters here, UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said that Guterres had underlined a prior Security Council resolution demanding that “all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability” in the downing of the airliner.
“In such instances, establishing the truth about this event is an important part of achieving justice for the victims and their families,” Haq emphasised.
On Thursday, a Dutch-led international investigation team stated that Russian military personnel had deployed the Buk surface-to-air missile which brought down the Boeing 777.
Russia has denied any involvement in the plane’s destruction, and dismissed the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report.
All 298 people on board MH17, which had taken off from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur, died when it crashed on July 17, 2014, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, after being hit by the missile.
Among the dead were 193 Dutch nationals constituting the majority of those killed; others killed included 43 from Malaysia, and 27 from Australia. The rest of the victims were from a number of countries including Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and the Philippines. – BERNAMA