Sooner or later, those who made the initial decisions in the tragedy of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in the summer of 2014 in Donbas must also be brought to justice, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Kuleba said in a written interview with the South China Morning Post that the life sentences given to those responsible for this crime are proof that Russia will not be able to escape responsibility. Sooner or later, those who made the initial decisions in this tragedy must also be brought to justice. He insists that not only those who launched the missile must be held accountable, but also the entire chain of command.

The minister pointed out that active efforts were made on Ukraine's part to fully cooperate with the official investigation from the very beginning in order to achieve justice, while Russia lied for years about the tragedy and manipulated public opinion in an attempt to evade responsibility.

Kuleba regrets to say this, but Russia killed the innocent victims of MH17 twice. Firstly, with its missile. Secondly, with its lies.

He also pointed out that from the very beginning, Russian aggression against Ukraine is not only aggression against Ukraine and Ukrainians, it is a global threat.

The Dutch court, which established the truth and identified the perpetrators, at least partially restored justice. But I think that even this did not completely alleviate the pain of the relatives, Kuleba added.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, operating flight MH17 Amsterdam (the Netherlands) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the sky over Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board were killed. Two thirds of passengers are Dutch nationals. The investigation into the causes of the disaster was conducted by an International Investigation Team, which included representatives of law enforcement agencies from Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia.

In September 2016, the group released its findings that the airliner was shot down by a missile fired from a Buk air defense system, and then announced that the Buk belonged to the Russian 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade stationed in Kursk.

On November 17, 2022, the District Court of The Hague found two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian - Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko - guilty of the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 298 people.

Another accused, Russian national Oleg Pulatov, was found not guilty by the court.