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Ukraine prepares lawsuits against DNR, LNR as ‘international terrorist organisations’

“I am confident that the terrorists must go on trial,” president Pyotr Poroshenko said

© ITAR-TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov

KIEV, July 19 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said his country was preparing lawsuits against the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR, respectively) as “international terrorist organisations”, the presidential website said on Saturday, July 19.

“I am confident that the terrorists must go on trial,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans.

The Ukrainian president said he had invited Dutch officials and representatives of other countries, whose citizens died in the July 17 Malaysia Airlines Boeing-77 passenger jetliner crash in Ukraine, to take part in the work of the commission investigating the accident.

“The government is doing everything it can to ensure that the investigation of the terrorist act is conducted under ICAO’s international auspices,” the president said.

Timmermans said the Netherlands would not stop until those responsible were punished, referring not only to those who had pulled the trigger but also to those who had made it possible.

He said the tragedy had opened Europe’s eyes to what was happening in Ukraine.

The plane en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region 60 km from the Russian border on July 17 and as many as 298 people aboard died.

The plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000. Malaysian Airlines confirmed that it had lost contact with the plane over Ukraine.

A source in the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transportation said the plane’s crew had not contacted Russian air traffic controllers. The plane was supposed to fly through Ukraine and Russia to Malaysia.

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Ukraine crisis Eastern Ukraine

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