Malaysian
Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern
Ukraine on July 17, 2014, as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and
Ukrainian forces, the precursor of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
All passengers and crew on board, including 196 Dutch
citizens, were killed, leaving the plane's wreckage and the remains of the
victims scattered across fields of corn and sunflowers.
Based
on an international investigation, a Dutch court in 2022 said there was no
doubt the plane was shot down by a Russian missile system and that Moscow
had "overall control" of the forces of the separatist 'Donetsk
People's Republic' in eastern Ukraine from May 2014. Russia denies any
involvement.
During Wednesday's ceremony, which took place at the MH17
monument in the village of Vijfhuizen near Amsterdam, loved ones read out loud
the names of all the victims.
Mark Rutte, who was prime minister when the disaster
happened and a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin ever
since, drew applause for his efforts during his time in office to keep the
international spotlight on the incident.
The Dutch court convicted two former Russian intelligence
agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader in absentia of murder for their role
in the transport into eastern Ukraine of the Russian military BUK missile
system that was used to shoot down the plane.
"Justice requires a long, long breath," said Prime
Minister Dick Schoof, who took office earlier this month, adding that
"a conviction is not the same as having someone behind bars".
Commemorating the victims, Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy said on X that Russia's accountability "is inevitable".
"In
fact, Russia murdered the MH17 victims twice. First with a missile. Second,
with lies that abused their memory and hurt their relatives," Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba added.
Moscow denies any responsibility for MH17's downing and in
2014 it also denied any presence in Ukraine. However, the EU's outgoing foreign
policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday called on Russia to finally accept
its responsibility.
"The evidence presented makes it abundantly clear that
the BUK surface-to-air missile system used to bring down Flight MH17 belonged
beyond doubt to the armed forces of the Russian Federation," Borrell said.
"No Russian disinformation operation can distract from
these basic facts, established by a court of law."
