Fighting halts MH17 search
August 6, 2014
On Wednesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a halt to search activities at the crash site of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. The 70-member team had once again been hindered from working by unsafe conditions nearby.
"The security situation in eastern Ukraine and the MH17 crash site has worsened by the day," Rutte told reporters in The Hague.
"That is making it impossible for experts to do their work," he said, adding: "It doesn't make sense to continue with the repatriation in this manner."
The team, supported by monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), is composed of investigators from the Netherlands - which lost the most citizens in the airline disaster - as well as experts from Australia and Malaysia.
The investigators have so far only been able to find the remains of 228 of the 298 people onboard the flight.
The search for evidence behind the downing of the commercial airliner has been hindered repeatedly, as Russian-backed separatists continue to carry out attacks and clash with the Ukrainian military in the area surrounding the crash site.
Western leaders believe separatists shot down MH17 on July 17 with technology supplied by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied these allegations.
Russian buildup on border
NATO reported an increase of Russian military activity along its southwestern border with Ukraine on Wednesday.
"We're not going to guess what is on Russia's mind, but we can see what Russia is doing on the ground - and that is of great concern," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement.
According to the statement, NATO officials believe that Russia "could use the pretext of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission as an excuse to send troops into eastern Ukraine."
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen is scheduled to travel to Kyiv on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Members of the military alliance have deployed aircraft and military personnel to neighboring Poland in recent months in response to growing alarm at Russia's continued support of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
kms/mkg (AFP, Reuters)