11 years ago, on July 17, 2014, Russian military personnel and individuals under their direct control committed one of the most horrific crimes – the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in the sky over the temporarily occupied part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reminded the world of this tragic event.
Points of attention
- Russian military personnel and individuals under their control committed a war crime by shooting down civilian airliner MH17 in 2014, as confirmed by international court decisions.
- The MH17 case symbolizes the fight for justice and the importance of international justice in confronting war crimes, emphasizing the need for accountability for the lives lost in the tragic event.
- Various international bodies have ruled against the Russian Federation for its involvement in the downing of flight MH17, highlighting violations of international law and human rights conventions.
There is no doubt about the involvement of the Russian Federation in the MH17 disaster
One deliberate act by Russian criminals and their accomplices took the lives of 298 people on board, citizens of many countries, innocent victims of Russian aggression. From the very first moment, Russia tried to hide the truth from the world, inventing false theories about the causes of the disaster.
There is now no doubt about who committed this crime and who is responsible for the murder of hundreds of people. The world already has an appropriate international legal response that negates all the false accusations, manipulations, and disinformation that Russian officials have so diligently spread.
In November 2022, the District Court of The Hague announced the verdict of three accused persons directly involved in the downing of flight MH17 with the Buk air defense system (Buk-TELAR), which was brought to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine from the territory of the Russian Federation.
In May 2025, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) issued a decision on the merits of the case brought by the Netherlands and Australia, in which it found that the Russian Federation violated Article 3bis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation by using weapons against Flight MH17, a civilian aircraft in flight.
In July 2025, the European Court of Human Rights, in its judgment on the merits of the case “Ukraine and the Netherlands v. the Russian Federation,” found that the killing of civilians on board flight MH17 could not be considered a “lawful act of war” and constituted a violation of the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Furthermore, the Court concluded that the prolonged suffering of the relatives of the victims of the downing of flight MH17 was of a nature and extent that amounted to inhuman treatment under Article 3 of the Convention.
The Court also highlighted Russia's attempts to obstruct the investigation by spreading false or outright falsified information about the crash and noted that Russia had also violated the Convention by failing to investigate the circumstances of the crash and prosecute the accused, and by failing to ensure proper cooperation with other states during the international investigation.
The MH17 case is a multi-volume account of pain, suffering, Russian lies, and deliberate cover-up. At the same time, it shows that despite the enormous resources of the Russian propaganda machine and its stubborn denial of involvement, the Russian Federation did not remain unpunished and failed to deceive the world.
We are convinced that the Russian Federation as a state, its military personnel and officials must be held accountable for every violation of international law they committed during the armed aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine, together with international partners, is making every effort to restore justice for all who have suffered from Russian terror.
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