European team of experts reach MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine
He on Friday said the
missile was fired from rebel territory raised the prospect of more sanctions on
Moscow.
At least one
American was among the almost 300 killed, he said, a revelation that raises the
stakes in a pivotal incident in deteriorating relations between Russia and the
West.
Calling it “an
outrage of unspeakable proportions”, Obama stopped short of directly
blaming Russia for the incident but warned that he was prepared to tighten
economic sanctions.
He echoed
international calls for a rapid and credible investigation and ruling out US
military intervention.
But, noting the
global impact of the crash, with victims from 11 countries across four
continents, he said the stakes were high for Europe, a clear call for it to
follow the more robust sanctions on Russia already imposed by Washington.
Russia, whom Obama
said was letting the rebels bring in weapons, has expressed anger at
implications it was to blame, saying people should not prejudge the outcome of
the inquiry.
There were no survivors
from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, a Boeing
777.
The United Nations
said 80 of the 298 aboard were children. The deadliest attack on a commercial
airliner, it scattered bodies over miles of rebel-held territory near the
border with Russia.
Makeshift white
flags marked where bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris. Others,
stripped bare by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting
weighed down by stones, one marked with a flower in remembrance.
One pensioner told
how a woman smashed though her roof: “There was a howling noise and
everything started to rattle. Then objects started falling out of the
sky,” said Irina Tipunova, 65.
“And then I
heard a roar and she landed in the kitchen.”
An American-Dutch
dual national was confirmed aboard – more than half those who died were Dutch –
and US investigators prepared to head to Ukraine to assist in the
investigation.
Staff from Europe’s
OSCE security body visited the site but complained that they did not have the
full access they wanted.
The scale of the
disaster could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the
crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled
the Moscow-backed president in Kyiv in February and Russia annexed the Crimea
peninsula a month later.
US President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Ukraine. Reuters
“This
outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be
restored in Ukraine,” Obama said, adding that Russia had failed to use its
influence to curb rebel violence.
While the West has
imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, the United States has been more
aggressive than the European Union. Analysts say the response of Germany and
other EU powers to the incident – possibly imposing more sanctions – could be
crucial in deciding the next phase of the standoff with Moscow.
Some commentators
even recalled Germany’s sinking of the Atlantic liner Lusitania in 1915, which
helped push the United States into World War One, but outrage in the West at
Thursday’s carnage is not seen as leading to military intervention.
The UN Security
Council called for a “full, thorough and independent international
investigation” into the downing of the plane and “appropriate
accountability” for those responsible.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said it was too early to decide on further sanctions before it
was known exactly what had happened to the plane.
Britain said the
facts must be established by an UN-led investigation before additional
sanctions were seriously considered.
Kyiv and Moscow
immediately blamed each other for the disaster, triggering a new phase in their
propaganda war.
Crash site
The plane crashed
about 40 km (25 miles) from the border with Russia near the regional capital of
Donetsk.
The area is a
stronghold of rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces and
have brought down military aircraft.
Leaders of the
rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic denied any involvement and
said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the intercontinental flight.
Russia’s Defence
Ministry later pointed the finger at Ukrainian ground forces, saying it had
picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian missile system south of Donetsk when
the airliner was brought down, Russian media reported.
The Ukrainian security
council said no missiles had been fired from its armouries. Officials also
accused separatists of moving unused missiles into Russia after the incident.
The Ukrainian
government released recordings it said were of Russian intelligence officers
discussing the shooting down of a civilian airliner by rebels who may have
mistaken it for a Ukrainian military plane.
After the downing
of several Ukrainian military aircraft in the area in recent months, including
two earlier this week, Kyiv had accused Russian forces of playing a direct
role.
Separatists were
quoted in Russian media last month saying they had acquired a long-range SA-11
anti-aircraft system.
Latvia, a former
Soviet state which like Ukraine has a large ethnic Russian minority, said
Moscow bore “full responsibility” for providing the separatists with
missiles. Baltic neighbour Lithuania spoke of “a brutal act of
terror”.
The OSCE said 30
observers and experts from the organisation, which has monitors in the region,
had reached the site on Friday.
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors stand at the site of Thursday’s Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region July 18, 2014. Reuters
“We have to
work there quickly to see what’s going on in terms of safety and security of
the perimeter, the state of the bodies, the wreckage and also the black
boxes,” spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said near the crash scene.
The plane’s two
black boxes – voice and data recorders – were recovered, but it was unlikely
they could determine it was a missile strike – let alone who launched it.
Further
complicating any investigation, local people were seen removing pieces of
wreckage as souvenirs. The condition of the metal can indicate if it has been
struck by a missile.
Reuters journalists
saw burning and charred wreckage bearing the red and blue Malaysia Airlines
insignia and dozens of bodies in fields near the village of Hrabove, known in
Russian as Grabovo.
Ukraine said on
Friday that up to 181 bodies had been found. The airline said it was carrying
283 passengers and 15 crew.
Ukraine has closed
air space over the east of the country as Malaysia Airlines defended its use of
a route that some other carriers had been avoiding.
More than half of
the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch.
Twenty-nine were
Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, four
Belgian, three Filipino, one America, one Canadian, one New Zealand.
Several were
unidentified and some may have had dual citizenship. The 15 crew were
Malaysian.
A number of those
on board were travelling to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne,
including Joep Lange, an influential Dutch expert.
“We lost
somebody who wanted to make the world a better place,” said his friend
Marcel Duyvestijn.
‘Tragic day, tragic year’
The loss of MH17 is
the second devastating blow for Malaysia Airlines this year, following the
mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 in March.
MH370 had vanished
with 239 passengers and crew on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
In Malaysia, there
was a sense of disbelief that another airline disaster could strike so soon.
“This is a
tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia,” Prime
Minister Najib Razak said.
International air
lanes had been open in the area, though only above 32,000 feet.
The Malaysia plane
was flying 1,000 feet higher, at the instruction of Ukrainian air traffic
control, although the airline had asked to fly at 35,000 feet.
Relatives gathered
at the airport in Kuala Lumpur and the Netherlands declared a day of national
mourning, without apportioning blame.
Trading blame
Ukraine accused
pro-Moscow militants of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air
missile.
US officials said
that they saw this as possibly the most likely cause of the disaster.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin blamed Kyiv for renewing its offensive against rebels two weeks
ago after a ceasefire failed to hold.
The Kremlin leader
called it a “tragedy” but did not say who he thought had brought the
Boeing 777 down.
He also called for
a “thorough and unbiased” investigation and for a ceasefire to allow
for negotiations.
Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko, who had stepped up an offensive in the east this month, spoke
to Obama and sought to rally world opinion behind his cause.
“The external
aggression against Ukraine is not just our problem but a threat to European and
global security,” he said.
Russia, which
Western powers accuse of trying to destabilise Ukraine to maintain influence
over its old Soviet empire, has accused Kyiv’s leaders of mounting a fascist
coup.
It says it is
holding troops in readiness to protect Russian-speakers in the east – the same
rationale it used for taking over Crimea.