DONETSK, July 17. /TASS/. The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, offered condolences to the families of those killed in the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 disaster during a memorial event took place at the crash site on Friday, which marks the sixth anniversary of the tragedy.

"An investigation has been going on for six years, but unfortunately, it is politically biased," the Donetsk News Agency quoted Pushilin as saying. "The investigation is just trying to prove the theory that was put forward in the first two hours [after the crash]," he added.

"We certainly can see that Kiev is doing its best to get rid of the responsibility and shift the blame to Donbass militias and Russia. However, history will set things straight and we are confident that sooner or later everyone will know who is responsible for this horrible crash, a heinous war crime committed by the Kiev authorities," the DPR head pointed out.

The memorial event, held near a stone erected in memory of the crash victims, involved DPR residents who carried the victims’ photos. The flags of ten countries whose citizens lost their lives in the crash were installed by the stone. Participants in the event laid flowers to the memorial and lighted candles. Many brought toys in memory of 80 kids killed in the air disaster.

MH17 crash

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a Boeing-777 passenger plane travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk on July 17, 2014. The crash killed all the 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers. There were nationals of ten states among the dead.

The crash is investigated by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that consists of representatives of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine.

In June 2019, the JIT announced that it had identified four suspects involved in the crash (three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian). A trial against them began in the Netherlands on March 9, 2020.

Russian authorities have repeatedly questioned the Joint Investigation Team’s conclusions and emphasized its reluctance to take Russia’s arguments into account.