OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:58 PM – Tuesday, May 13, 2025
A United Nations (UN) aviation agency says that Russia bears responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which purportedly dropped over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
The tragic incident claimed the lives of all 298 passengers and crew on board.
Despite adamant denials from the Kremlin regarding any involvement, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) voted on Monday — concluding that the Russian Federation failed to fulfill its obligations under international air law.
This legal framework mandates that all countries “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.”
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, fell over Ukraine’s Donbas region, amid ongoing hostilities between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
Of the 298 individuals on board, the majority—196 passengers and crew—were Dutch nationals. The flight also carried 38 Australians, 10 British citizens, and an unknown number of Belgian and Malaysian nationals, according to the BBC.
The case was submitted to the United Nations (UN) in 2022 by the governments of Australia and the Netherlands — both of which have expressed their approval of the ICAO’s recent ruling.
“We call upon Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for this horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct,” asserted Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong in a statement.
It was also hailed as an “important step towards establishing the truth and achieving justice and accountability” by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp. “States cannot violate international law with impunity,” he added.
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