Kyiv, 18 July 2014 – Terrorists do not give an opportunity to conduct an investigation of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash wich claime the lives of all 298 people who were on board, stated Volodymyr Groysman, Ukraine’s Vice Prime-Minister – Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utility Services of Ukraine at a briefing in the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Groysman is in charge of the state commission for the plane crash investigation created yesterday by the government of Ukraine.
According to the vice prime-minister the terrorists granted limited access to the crash site of the plane’s crash site only to State Emergency Service officers. Representatives of the National investigation bureau and other experts that were conducting investigation were forcefully removed from the area 30 minutes upon their arrival. The investigation takes place beyond the crash site, since experts cannot access the area.
Volodymyr Groysman emphasized that the State Commission has appealed to international community to get access to the crash site and jointly conduct a full-scale inspection. “The entire world must unite to get access to this territory and conduct an objective investigation,” vice prime minister said.
“However, even now we have no doubts as to what really happened. It’s not the first or the second plane downed by terrorists. Everyone who is involved in this terrorist act needs to be held liable,” emphasized Groysman.
Ukraine has invited representatives of the countries whose citizens were killed, representative of the producer country as well as members of international air safety organizations to take part in the investigation.
The Ukrainian official has also informed that special centers were set up in Kharkiv and Kyiv airports to support relatives of the victims who will arrive in Ukraine. About 600 free hotel rooms have been booked for them in the above cities. Crisis center has been set up in Kharkiv where psychologists will work with families of the victims and all necessary assistance will be provided to them.
The State Commission has arranged for the bodies of the victims to be transported from the territories controlled by terrorists. However there is no access to them at the moment.
“Unfortunately the militants’ attitude toward the people who will come is questionable. For now we cannot guarantee safety on this territory. I extend my sincere condolences to all who lost their loved ones in this tragedy. Unfortunately, this was caused by the human factor or rather due to the absence of humanity and not due to technical reasons,” said Volodymyr Groysman.
