Kyiv, 21 July 2014 – A vast evidence base – including the examination of the missile debris, debris from the shot-down plane and the information of the US satellite intelligence service – will help determine precisely who and from what location launched the missile, which downed the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in Donbass. This was reported by the former Deputy Commander of the Air Force, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Volodymyr Diakov during the Ukraine Crisis Media Center briefing.
“The debris of the downed plane which is now being transported to Kharkov, where a body of the plane has been recreated to compare it to the debris of the fuselage; the records of the negotiations between terrorists, the fact that the BUK anti-aircraft missile system was transported from Russia to the territory of Ukraine, documented in photos, – all this comprise main evidence base. It is also essential to examine the bodies of the victims and the nature of the damages to the body of the plane,”- said Volodymyr Diakov.
According to the Lieutenant General, the most reliable piece of evidence, which is hard to refute, is a fragment of the launched missile. “This is the most important part, as every missile has a date and an issue series printed on it. If we find fragments of the missile, we will immediately be able to determine what it was. The serial number will allow us to determine where and when the missile system was admitted,” asserted the Lieutenant General.
“If all this evidence is collected, it will be possible to prove that the plane was shot down by the Russian military, not by the terrorists,” Mr. Diakov pointed out. “The Ukrainian side and foreign specialists need to gather this evidence in order to determine who launched the missile. Then it will be possible to calculate and determine the name of the officer and the operators who fired.”
The Lieutenant General believes that the fact that the friend-or-foe function (IFF) was disabled on the BUK system serves as proof that the system which launched the missile was brought in from Russia. According to him, because there was no opportunity to receive and input the access code from Russia on a daily basis, the friend-or-foe function was turned off.
According to Volodymyr Diakov, the established data from the US satellite intelligence service will also help to determine the location from which the missile was launched. “And finding a fragment of the missile is the main thing. This will provide irrefutable evidence,” underlined Volodymyr Diakov.
