AFP reports: The Netherlands has declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for the 193 Dutch victims of the flight MH17 crash, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a statement.
Our newsroom summary of where the escalating war of words between NATO and Russia stands:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of NATO forces strengthening positions closer to Russia's border.
Putin -- speaking at a July 22 session of the Russian Security Council in Moscow -- said Russia needs to react "appropriately and proportionately" to NATO's moves but he added he currently sees no direct threat to Russia's sovereignty or territorial integrity.
But Putin used the example of the NATO missile-defense system being deployed in Europe saying the defensive system "is nothing of the kind but an offensive" system.
Putin recommended boosting Russia's defense potential, "including in Crimea and Sevastopol, where we have to build a military structure practically from scratch."
The Russian president also obliquely criticized the NATO alliance saying, "A country, which is part of an alliance, gives away a share of its sovereignty by joining [an alliance] and it does not always reflect the national interests of a given country."
He also called for taking steps to decrease the dependency of Russia's national economy and financial system on "unfavorable external factors."
Putin called on Western governments that have good relations with the Ukrainian government to use their influence to convince Kyiv to halt its military operation in eastern Ukraine.
He said Russia would use its influence with separatists in eastern Ukraine to allow a full investigation of the July 17 downing of a Malaysian airliner.
He also urged his country's Security Council to "finally call on the Kyiv authorities to observe elementary norms of decency and to cease fire at least for a short period of an investigation [into the causes of the downing of the Malaysian airliner]."
Putin also spoke about so-called "color revolutions," saying Russian citizens would never accept political activities that aimed to oust the government and were sponsored and directed from outside the country.
But he also urged Russia's civil society to be observant in preventing violations of human rights and freedoms and manifestations of extremism and radicalism.
Putin did not elaborate on that point.
Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax
Re-upping in case you missed it.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry says it has opened criminal proceedings against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev for "aiding terrorists," it says in reference to alleged ties to Ukrainian separatist groups.
The ministry's website says Shoigu is being investigated for organizing illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine that are responsible for attacks on Ukrainian authorities and seizures of government buildings, for killing of people and for other serious crimes.
Malofeev is being investigated for his role in financing those groups.
Here are Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman's comments at a news briefing in Kharkiv about the handling of the remains of the victims and the flight recorders from Flight MH17.
"Today at around noon [local time] a special train, which had been kept [by pro-Russian separatists] for almost four days under severely appalling conditions near the crash site, arrived in Kharkiv."
"The figures available to us are only preliminary -- there are 282 bodies and 87 body parts, which, according to preliminary estimates, belong to 16 victims."
"Momentarily we do not have specific information about the so-called black boxes. We only know that presumably they are in one of the train cars. Now, experts from the Netherlands, Malaysia, and the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) are holding consultations on how to transfer these flight recorders for examination. They haven't been presented to Ukrainian authorities."
The Council of the European Union has released the text of its "conclusions on Ukraine." They read as follows (or click here):
1) The EU and its Member States are shocked and deeply saddened by the downing of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in Donetsk, Ukraine and the tragic loss of so many innocent lives. Citizens from many nationalities including many from the European Union have been killed. We wish to convey our deepest condolences to the people and governments of all the affected nations and in particular to the families of the victims. The EU welcomes unanimous adoption of the UNSC Resolution of 21 July 2014 and looks forward to its full implementation.
2) The EU calls on the separatist groups in the area to ensure full, immediate, safe and secure access to the site and surrounding area, including a viable security corridor, in order to proceed with victim identification as well as to recover remains and possessions of those deceased in the downing and provide for swift, professional and dignified repatriation of the victims. The EU expects all those in the area to preserve the crash site intact, including by refraining from destroying, moving, or disturbing remains, wreckage, equipment, debris or personal belongings.
3) The EU supports the call of the UNSC and OSCE Permanent Council for a full, transparent and independent international investigation in accordance with the international civil aviation guidelines, in co-ordination with the ICAO, including with participation of technical and forensic experts from the Ukrainian, Malaysian, and Dutch governments as well as other technical and forensic experts. All relevant materials recovered from the site should be made available to the international investigation immediately and without interference.
4) The EU emphasises that those directly and indirectly responsible for the downing must be held accountable and brought to justice and calls on all states and parties to fully cooperate to this end.
5) The Council urges the Russian Federation to actively use its influence over the illegally armed groups in order to achieve full, immediate, safe and secure access to the site, full cooperation with the work on recovering remains and possessions and full cooperation with the independent investigation, including unhindered access to the site of the downing for as long as needed for the investigation and possible follow up investigations. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, already present in Eastern Ukraine, must be allowed to play its full role in facilitating and safe-guarding the access.
The Council urges Russia to stop the increasing flow of weapons, equipment and militants across the border in order to achieve rapid and tangible results in de-escalation. The Council further urges Russia to withdraw its additional troops from the border area.
6) The Council agrees to accelerate the preparation of targeted measures agreed at the Special meeting of the European Council on 16 July, in particular to establish immediately a list of entities and persons, including from the Russian Federation, to be listed under the enhanced criteria adopted by the Council on 18 July, then to expand the restrictive measures with a view to targeting individuals or entities who actively provide material or financial support to or are benefiting from the Russian decision makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilisation of Eastern-Ukraine, and to adopt additional measures to restrict trade with and investment in Crimea and Sevastopol, at the latest by the end of July.
7) The Council recalls the previous commitments by the European Council and remains ready to introduce without delay a package of further significant restrictive measures, if full and immediate cooperation on above mentioned demands fails to materialise. To this end, the Council requests the Commission and the EEAS to finalise their preparatory work on possible targeted measures and to present proposals for taking action, including on access to capital markets, defence, dual use goods, and sensitive technologies, including in the energy sector. The results of this work will be presented on Thursday, 24th July.
8) The Council recalls the four specific steps requested by the European Council in its 27 June Conclusions. It strongly condemns the continuation of illegal activities by armed militants in Eastern Ukraine and elsewhere, which has caused the loss of life of many innocent people. Further consideration will be given to the possible designation of these groups as terrorist organisations. The Council stresses its support for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, and the need to implement President Poroshenko's peace plan without any further delay. It also stresses the urgent need to agree on a genuine and sustainable cease-fire by all parties on the basis of the Berlin Declaration of 2 July with the aim of restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity. To this end, the Council calls for support for the OSCE and the Trilateral Contact Group on their effort for creating conditions for a ceasefire. The Council also reiterates the importance of an effective border control, including through OSCE observers, and the swift release of all hostages. The Council commends and fully supports the efforts of the OSCE as an essential facilitator in the conflict.
From our news desk:
British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the request of the Dutch government Britain will retrieve data from the black boxes of the downed Malaysian airliner.
Cameron said on July 22 his government had received and agreed to the request from the Dutch to have British air accident investigators at Farnborough get the data from the black boxes of the Malaysian plane shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17.
Belgium's Defense Ministry said in a statement a Belgian military aircraft was on its way to Kyiv to collect the boxes.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine handed over the black boxes to Malaysian experts early on July 22.
The two boxes may shed light on Western claims the plane was shot down by separatists in eastern Ukraine with a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile.
Here's the related tweet:
Here's the latest map commissioned by the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council's Information-Analytical Center of the fighting in the east. (It's in Ukrainian, since the center no longer publishes its English-language versions.)
