Today marks twelve years since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

On 17 July 2014, Russian military personnel and individuals acting under their direct control shot down a civilian passenger aircraft using a Buk-TELAR surface-to-air missile system transported from the territory of the Russian Federation. This act of Russian terror claimed the lives of 298 innocent people – citizens of different countries around the world.

The MH17 tragedy was one of the first clear indications that Russia’s aggression knows no boundaries and that anyone can become its victim. It exposed the true nature of Russia’s aggression – cynical, treacherous, and devoid of any moral restraint. Even then, Russia demonstrated complete disregard for human life, the fundamental norms of international law, and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations upon which the modern global security architecture is built.

What happened in the skies over Donetsk region was neither an accident nor a tragic mistake. For years, Moscow constructed a coordinated web of lies in an attempt to conceal the traces of its bloody crime. Yet the unprecedented unity of the international community dismantled the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, proving that truth is stronger than lies, impunity, and state terror.

Today, the international legal responsibility of the Russian Federation for the downing of Flight MH17, as well as the criminal responsibility of those who carried out this crime, has been firmly established by decisions of international and national judicial institutions, including The Hague District Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Ukraine reaffirms its unwavering support for Australia and the Netherlands in response to the Russian Federation’s attempt to appeal the ICAO Council’s decision finding Russia responsible for the MH17 tragedy. No procedural manipulation can alter the established facts or absolve Russia of its international legal responsibility for this heinous crime.

The MH17 tragedy demonstrates that justice is impossible without accountability. Impunity for the aggressor inevitably gives rise to new crimes and new human suffering.

On this twelfth anniversary of the tragedy, we bow our heads in memory of all those who lost their lives aboard Flight MH17 and extend our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones.

Ukraine will continue to work closely with its international partners to ensure the inevitability of accountability for the aggressor state and for all those responsible for crimes committed as a result of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. Only by establishing the truth, restoring justice, and holding those responsible accountable can we ensure that the world never again witnesses tragedies of this kind.