A Malaysian team including two air accident investigators arrived in Kiev yesterday and the country’s transport minister was expected to follow, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appealed for access to the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said it has “compelling evidence” that the crew which operated the missile system it says shot down the airliner were Russian citizens and that they must be questioned, the country’s counterintelligence chief said.
“We have compelling evidence that this terrorist act was committed with the help of the Russian Federation. We know clearly that the crew of this system were Russian citizens,” Vitaly Nada told a news conference.
Photo: Reuters
He also called on Russia to provide the full names of the crew so Kiev could question them.
Najib said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone late on Friday to stress the need for an objective, unfettered probe into the crash that killed 298 people, amid concerns the site was vulnerable to tampering.
“I also told Putin that the site should not be tampered [with] before the team begins its investigation,” he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.
Photo: EPA
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 came down in a separatist-held region, with the US saying it was shot down in a missile attack, a possible casualty of Ukraine’s battle with pro-Russia rebels.
A 62-member Malaysian team arrived in Kiev yesterday, a member of the delegation told reporters.
It was to include two accredited air crash investigators invited by Ukraine to help probe responsibility for the disaster.
Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai was due to leave for Kiev later yesterday, the Star daily said.
Though it occurred in rebel territory, Ukraine’s government has the authority to investigate the crash, under international conventions.
However, concerns have emerged after international observers were blocked or given only partial access by armed rebels.
US President Barack Obama has said evidence indicates a missile was fired from the rebel-held zone.
The disaster has deeply shocked Malaysia, still grappling with the trauma of the March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew aboard, including 38 Malaysians.
No trace of MH370 has been found, severely damaging Malaysia’s image abroad and leaving passengers’ relatives furious, deeply anguished and demanding answers.
“Wrong target; who committed this atrocity?” leading Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia said yesterday of MH17 on its front page, echoing the tone of most leading newspapers and Malaysian social media chatter.
At least 44 Malaysians were on the flight.
In an address to his nation late on Friday, Najib demanded justice if it is determined that the plane was shot down, condemning what he called an “inhumane, uncivilized, violent and irresponsible act.”
He said the Muslim-majority country would hold an emergency sitting of parliament — expected on Wednesday — to vent its anger over the disaster, and that all flags in the country would be flown at half-staff.
“Of course there is anger. Why must this happen only to us [in] Malaysia? I really feel like beating that Russian, Vladimir Putin,” said Mohamad Shidee Mohamad Ghazali, 28, a welder with state utility company Tenaga Nasional.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS