Three Russians, one Ukrainian charged with downing of MH17 flight

Prosecutors have announced charges against three Russians and one Ukrainian for the first time since Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down killing 298 passengers and crew members in July, 2014.

MH17 was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as it was flying from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Everyone on board was killed.

Most of those on board were Dutch. The joint investigation team formed by Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine found that the plane was shot down by a Russian missile.

A court case will begin in the Netherlands on 9 March 2020.

International arrest warrants have been issued for the four men.

The Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) named the men as Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov from Russia, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

Last year Russian President Vladimir Putin called MH17’s downing a “terrible tragedy” but said that Moscow was not to blame and that there are other explanations for what happened.

The governments of the Netherlands and Australia have said they hold Russia legally responsible.