UNITED NATIONS, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vitaly Churkin on Monday said the Ukrainian military is still active inside the 40km area around the MH17 crash site, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2166.
Churkin cited the resolution's call for an international investigation and for an immediate end of the fighting in the area of the crash. And, he said, “President [Petro] Poroshenko promised no activity of the Ukrainian military in a radius of forty kilometers,” adding “that did continue.”
The fighting “did not allow the international investigators and those accompanying them to reach the crash site,” the Russian envoy noted.
Churkin said it is “extremely disturbing” that some Ukrainian security officials have been saying it is the country's “intention to take over the site militarily.” That, he said, would be a direct violation of the UN Security Council Resolution.
As good news, the Russian representatives in the UN cited an agreement he said was just reached by the foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Australia with President Poroshenko for presence of their investigators at the crash site, saying that Poroshenko again “promised an end to fighting in the area.”
If complied with this time, Churkin said, that would allow investigators to get to the site, “allow them to take care of the bodies” and get to the next stage of the international investigation.
Last Monday, the Ukrainian military and militia in the country’s east agreed on a ceasefire within a 40-kilometer zone around the crash site to provide access to the area for the international investigators.
Malaysia Airlines MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board, including 192 Dutch nationals, died in the crash.
