UKRAINE-CRISIS/MH17-CRASH SITE Few flowers and toys lie at MH17 crash site near sleepy east Ukraine village

Record ID: 146936

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/MH17-CRASH SITE Few flowers and toys lie at MH17 crash site near sleepy east Ukraine village
  • Date: 16th July 2015
  • Summary: HRABOVE, UKRAINE (JULY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) SIGN AND FLOWERS ON THE GROUND IN FIELD CLOSE OF SIGN READING (Russian): "STOP AND PRAY / FEEL THE MINUTES RUN / THE BOEING CRASHED HERE / AND IN A HORRIBLE MOMENT / IT TOOK SOMEBODY'S LIFE AWAY" FLOWERS AND CHILDREN'S TOYS AT MEMORIAL CLOSE OF PLASTIC TOY AMID FLOWERS IN MEMORIAL CHURCH CLOSE OF CROSS ON CHURCH DOME (SOUNDBITE) (
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FGPHPRNJYN571S04FNBWSL37
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Flowers and a few children's toys left as mementoes lie at the foot of a sign in the middle of an empty green field in eastern Ukraine.
    Those few items and an eerie silence are all that is left at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 shot down a year ago over the skies of eastern Ukraine, with 298 passengers on board, two-thirds of them Dutch.
    It crashed in Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists and marked a turning point in the conflict in Ukraine, which pits the separatists against Kiev's forces.
    Ukraine and Western countries accuse rebels in eastern Ukraine of shooting down the plane with a Russian-made missile. Moscow has rejected accusations it supplied the rebels with BUK anti-aircraft missile systems.
    For the residents of Hrabove, a village in Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, near where the plane was brought down, the events of July 17, 2014 were traumatic, with many locals witnessing the destruction left in the aftermath of the crash.
    Vladimir Berezhnoy, the head of the Hrabove village administration, recalls his experience moments after fragments of the plane hit the field nearby.
    "We at first thought a small plane had crashed, because we ran and did not see immediately that horrible picture up the hill. Later, those people that came down from up the hill, came and said that it is just horrible up there, we went up and saw that dead bodies, body parts were scattered all around. I don't know - arms, legs everywhere. It was horrible," says Berezhnoy, adding locals have been left with a sense of fear.
    Responsibility for the downing of the plane remains a sore point in the conflict in east Ukraine, where more than 6,100 people have been killed in more than a year of fighting between Kiev government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels.
    Dutch investigators leading an international investigation into the crash, because of the large number of Dutch victims, say their leading scenario is that it was brought down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile. But with the West accusing pro-Russian rebels and Russia in turn accusing Kiev, questions and uncertainty remains over the possibility of those responsible being prosecuted.
    Berezhnoy says the residents of Hrabove are hoping the international investigation will offer some answers.
    "We would like to know who is guilty," says Berezhnoy. "We are waiting for September, they said that in September the expert commission will make a report and will tell the world who was guilty of this tragedy."
    Asked if the result of the investigation was significant to local resident, the official said: "I think so yes, I think everyone wants to know the truth. Not just me, I think everyone wants to know the truth, if it is the truth."
    The fields near Hrabove are now green and children of the village can be seen playing about on swings and slides.
    But Hrabove resident Alexander Pereverzev says he clearly remembers the moments following the downing of the plane and debris scorching on the fields near his home.
    "I look - and I see a plane is flying, and from it fragments are breaking away. My initial thought was that maybe they have started bombing us or something, God knows what they can come up with. But then I saw it passing by and I thought 'God don't let it crash on my house'. But it passed by, and boom and it went over there. And I hear this explosion, fire started coming, a big fire, and then smoke started going up," recalled Pereverzev.
    Australia has urged the United Nations Security Council to support the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing the MH17 jet. Malaysia, part of the 15-member council until 2016, distributed a draft resolution on the tribunal last week, which it hoped could be adopted later this month. It is a joint proposal with Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ukraine.
    However, the move has been dismissed by Russia, which is a veto-wielding permanent member on the 15-member council, along with France, Britain, China and the United States. Russia has the option of blocking the proposal if it is put to a vote.
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