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BOEING 777 CRASH IN DONBASS

Multinational police mission to MH17 crash in Ukraine to be allowed to use weapons

The Dutch-led mission will be formed from military and non-military personnel from the Netherlands and Australia

© AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

KIEV, July 30 /ITAR-TASS/. A multinational police mission to the crash site of Malaysian MH17 in eastern Ukraine will be allowed to have and use weapons, the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper said on Tuesday citing an agreement between Ukraine and the Netherlands.

The Dutch-led mission will be formed from military and non-military personnel from the Netherlands and Australia. The mission, according to the document, will have not more than 700 armed personnel and will enjoy the freedom of movement across Ukraine to reach areas related to the crash probe. Members of the mission will have the right to use weapons in self-defence purposes.

On July 28, Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko urged the parliament to approve at its extraordinary session on July 31 the deployment of an international unarmed police mission on the Malaysian Boeing crash site. “A transparent international investigation into the Boeing 777 tragedy is a common priority for Ukraine, Australia and the Netherlands,” he said.

A Boeing-777 of the Malaysia Airlines (flight MH17) en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Region 60 km from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operation between the Donetsk self-defence forces and the Ukrainian army. All the passengers and crewmembers onboard the plane - 298 people - died.

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