A step toward justice in the shootdown of Flight 17

FOR ALL those who want justice for the horrific downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, over eastern Ukraine, the report of the Dutch Safety Board is a first, solid step. Of the 298 passengers and crew who died in the disaster, 193 were Dutch citizens. The safety board has made a compelling case about how the airliner was downed, but not by whom. That should come from follow-up investigations.

What the safety board has done is document in great detail how a missile warhead, filled with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel, exploded just outside the left front of the Boeing 777 cockpit, penetrating the aircraft skin, showering the flight crew with deadly metal and emitting a blast wave that all but sheared off the nose of the airliner, sending it plummeting to the earth. Working from bits and pieces of perforated wreckage, the safety board found that the shrapnel came in two shapes, one a cube and the other a distinctive bow tie or hourglass. This shape marks it as originating from a “Buk” 9N314M warhead on a 9M38-series surface-to-air missile manufactured in Russia or the Soviet Union.

At the moment the plane flew over Ukraine, Russian-backed separatists were battling Ukrainian forces on the ground. On the day of the disaster, about 160 flights crossed the war zone, and the safety board rightly questioned why Ukrainian authorities failed to close the airspace.

More forensic investigation will be necessary to identify precisely where the missile came from, but the safety board identified a 123-square-mile area mostly held by the separatists. The board’s report unequivocally refutes distracting theories that Russia has floated, such as a claim that the airliner was downed by an air-to-air missile fired by Ukraine.

A Dutch criminal investigation is underway that may identify the individuals who ordered and carried out the shootdown. We hope the prosecutors will have access to precise data scooped up by U.S. technical means at the time of the shootdown, which made clear the responsibility of Russian-backed forces. Already, outside investigations based on open sources and social media, such as by the citizen journalist group Bellingcat, have shown the Buk launcher was probably wheeled into Ukraine in June from the Russian 53rd Air Defense Brigade, based outside Kursk. The criminal probe should aim to determine whether Russian servicemen were operating the unit when it was fired or helping the separatists fire it.

Russia has gone to considerable lengths to deflect blame onto Ukraine, and was still doing so with another absurd propaganda blast on Tuesday, suggesting the missile could only have come from Ukraine’s arsenal. If he cooperated with the Dutch investigators, President Vladimir Putin could very quickly facilitate justice for this sordid crime. Instead he has chosen to deliberately shroud the shootdown in deception and misdirection, thereby implicating himself in a shameful coverup. With or without him, all those responsible for the crime must be identified and held to account.

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