MH17: a Buk from Kursk, 298 dead, three courts

A Russian Buk-TELAR of the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, driven into occupied Donetsk region and back the same night, fired one missile at a Boeing 777 at 33,000 feet. All 298 on board died, 80 of them children. A Dutch court convicted three men of murder in 2022; in 2025 the ICAO Council and the European Court of Human Rights held Russia responsible. Russia answered with a fighter jet, a retired missile, a withdrawn radar tape and the word 'void'.

Unlawful downing of a civil aircraft, 298 murders — established (District Court of The Hague; ECtHR; ICAO) Denial, counter-narratives, obstruction of investigations — pattern Act of the Russian state through forces under its overall control — position (Netherlands, Australia, Ukraine)

Russia said. Lt-Gen Andrei Kartapolov · Head of the Main Operations Directorate, General Staff · Russian MoD briefing, Moscow, 21 Jul 2014: “A Ukraine Air Force military jet was detected gaining height, its distance from the Malaysian Boeing was 3 to 5 km. The SU-25 fighter jet can gain an altitude of 10 km, according to its specification.” — Withdrawn by Russia's own radar data. The Safety Board excluded an air-to-air missile: the damage pattern and the bow-tie fragments fit only a Buk warhead. On 26 Sep 2016 the Russian MoD released radar data showing no second aircraft near MH17 — the Su-25 disappeared from Russia's own account.

Evidence held: Dutch Safety Board, 13 Oct 2015; JIT, 24 May 2018; Ukraine's Prosecutor General and SBU; Ukraine restricted only lower altitudes; the Safety Board found it had sufficient reason to close its eastern airspace entirely..

Photo & video · 5 photos

Dutch and Australian police investigators at the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine

Ministerie van Defensie · 2014-08-03 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · original ↗

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Flight data of MH17 on 17 July 2014, 13:17–13:20 UTC, from the Dutch Safety Board preliminary report

Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid · 2014-09-09 · Public domain · original ↗

SHA-256 5f97d0c1eabe488b… · 100 KB

Coffins of MH17 victims arrive at Eindhoven air base from Kharkiv, July 2014

Hille Hillenga · 2014-07-25 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · original ↗

SHA-256 382aac102e7f23e7… · 54 KB

Union and Dutch flags at half-mast in Downing Street, July 2014

Foreign and Commonwealth Office · 2014-07-23 · CC BY 2.0 · original ↗

SHA-256 710b47613e4f0913… · 127 KB

The National Monument MH17 at Vijfhuizen near Schiphol

Erikt · 2018-07-29 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · original ↗

SHA-256 321f74ecb5554962… · 122 KB

Download pack (ZIP · 5 files)Openly licensed official material only; videos are linked to the official post. No image shows the dead; images of graphic aftermath are blurred until tapped and marked sensitive in the pack. This is not an evidence repository: originals are held by the Prosecutor General (warcrimes.gov.ua) and the ICC OTP.