July 17, 2021. OTTAWA. On the seventh painful anniversary of the downing of Flight MH-17, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) joins the loved ones of the 298 innocent victims on Flight MH-17 in mourning and remembrance.
On July 17, 2014 Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 was shot down over Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine by a Russian Buk missile. All 298 people on board were murdered, including Canadian Andrei Anghel. May the Memory of the Victims Be Eternal. Вічная пам’ять.
“Responsibility for this heinous act of international terrorism lies with the Russian regime that for more than seven years has waged a war of aggression against Ukraine,” stated Alexandra Chyczij, National President of the UCC. “We call on the international community to ensure justice for the victims of MH-17.”
On May 24, 2018, the International Joint Investigation Team (JIT – Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, Malaysia, the Netherlands) concluded that Russia’s 53rd Antiaircraft Brigade shot down Flight MH-17. The JIT stated that it is “convinced that the BUK-TELAR that was used to down MH17, originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation.”
The UCC calls on Canada and the international community to designate the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism and designate the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “Peoples’ Republics” terrorist organizations.
To read more about ongoing court cases related to MH17, please see the report from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group: Russia’s denial of accountability for MH17 in tatters with more court cases looming
