The latest on the nationalaties of the MH17 victims via Reuters. There are likely to be It is still unclear whether there are Americans among the 19 people unaccounted for in this figure, compared with the announced death toll of 298:
Malaysia Airlines said on Friday it had determined the nationalities of all but four of the passengers aboard its flight MH17 which crashed in eastern Ukraine.
The airline's Europe head Huib Gorter said the flight had had 189 Dutch passengers, 29 Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, four Belgian, three Filippino, one Canadian and one New Zealander.
The upper house of the Dutch legislature reports that one of its own, Senator Willem Witteveen, along with his wife and daughter were aboard Flight MH17 when it went down, according to Dutch Public Broadcasting's website.
"Senator Willem Witteveen was killed in the plane crash in Ukraine, reports the Senate. Witteveen (62) joined last year as a member of the Senate. From 1999 to 2007 he also was a member of the Senate. From 1990 he was professor of law at the University of Tilburg. "
We're working on a translation but there is another tape from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) with separatists reportedly discussing obtaining a 'Buk' launcher from Russia and moving it to Donetsk. More on this soon.
This video has been posted to YouTube by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry that it claims shows a launch vehicle for the type of antiaircraft missile system that's being blamed for the Malaysia Airlines downing being transported toward the Russian border. The clip is titled "Fighters withdraw the missile complex 'BUK' to the border with the RF."
The Ministry also issued a statement citing the clip and quoting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov saying the video was shot at 4:50 a.m. local time today with the vehicle in question moving "through Krasnodon in the direction of the border with Russia."
It says two of the uncovered missiles can be seen in place, while there is a space between them where another missile would normally lie.
"This and other pieces of information are now being analyzed. It must have been about the same 'BUK' SAM that shot down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur civilian aircraft," the minister is quoted as saying.
In the article, Avakov also pledges that a full account will be published after the investigation but adds, "I believe this fragment should be published immediately."
Statement from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
OSCE PA President deplores apparent downing of Malaysian Airlines flight
COPENHAGEN, 18 July 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine:
“I deplore in the strongest possible terms the apparent downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight near Ukraine’s border with Russia. On behalf of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I extend my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this horrific tragedy and to the governments whose nationals have perished.
“A swift, thorough, international investigation is needed to determine the exact circumstances of the crash and bring the perpetrators to justice. However, there are already strong indications that a missile launched from rebel-controlled areas may have caused this catastrophe. In that case, there would be no doubt that those responsible for the illicit flow of military hardware and weapons into eastern Ukraine and those who directly or indirectly challenge the Ukrainian government’s authority over its own territory bear the ultimate responsibility. I reiterate my call for an unconditional ceasefire that is respected by all sides and urge the governments in Moscow and Kyiv to do all in their power to immediately de-escalate this situation.”
President Kanerva futher urged the Russian and Ukrainian governments to enlist the OSCE’s full support at this critical time.
On the question of whether or not separatists possessed any antiaircraft systems as advanced as the BUK. Here's an ITAR-TASS English-language story from June 29 in which "Donetsk People's Republic" sources boast of having acquired "a missile defence army unit equipped with Buk missile defence systems."
Here's the link and here's the text of that news item:
Self-defence forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic have taken control over a missile defence army unit equipped with Buk missile defence systems, the press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic told Itar-Tass on Sunday.
So far, no details are available about the number and condition of the missile systems taken over by the self-defence forces. The press service refused to comment.
The Buk missile defence system is a mobile medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend field troops and logistics installations against air threats in conditions of heavy electronic countermeasures and intense enemy fire.
Here are three videos documenting Australia's response to the MH17 tragedy.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said "Russian-backed rebels" were behind the shootdown:
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called for a full international inquiry into the flight MH17 tragedy. Bishop told journalists in Brisbane today that Australia is seeking access to the crash site and she urged pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine to cooperate with the investigation. She said the incident underscored the urgent need to deescalate the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Then an angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott demanded an independent inquiry in a televised statement, saying Russia's response to the disaster was "deeply unsatisfactory." Abbott criticized Russia's ambassador to Australia, Vladimir Morozov, who blamed Ukraine for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines, which was carrying at least 27 Australians.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said European states should take the lead in an investigation of the Malaysia Airlines tragedy in eastern Ukraine. Clinton said in an interview with PBS's Charlie Rose on July 17 there was "growing awareness" that "Russian insurgents" were to blame for the downing of the jetliner and that the equipment used in the attack "had to have come from Russia."
We ran a story last night about a social media site purporting to belong to separatist leader Igor Girkin, aka Strelkov, claiming that insurgents had shot down an aircraft.
There have been doubts raised about whether the site was just a separatist fan site or whether it was accurately carrying Strelkov's statements. At The Interpreter, Catherine A. Fitzpatrick unpacks some of the questions concerning the veracity of the site.
From our long observation of this Vkontakte group and other Strelkov-related pages, we would have to say this is not the case – this group’s publications have long been cited by regional media and the same talking points as the dispatch were also used by Russian state media and Ukrainian media from other separatist sources .
First, the VKontakte group isn’t just a random fan group; it’s an established group of supporters now numbering more than 137,000 followers which has been publishing “Strelkov Dispatches” for weeks, many of which have tracked events corroborated by other sources or which are consistent with the separatists’ narrative as Strelkov himself says on camera in video addresses or at news conferences uploaded to YouTube.