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STORY: UN / UKRAINE MH17
TRT: 3.15
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 19 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
19 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“The report notes that the aircraft was in “airworthy condition’, with no indication that the plane had any technical or operational issues.”
4. Med shot, Ukraine delegation
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“Winter will soon arrive in the Ukraine, at which time it will become almost impossible to retrieve further remains and to collect further evidence.”
6. Med shot, delegations
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs:
“The sole objective of the investigation into the crash of MH17 is the “prevention of similar accidents and incidents.” What could underscore the need for such prevention more than the fact, that according to radar data, three other commercial aircrafts were in the same control area as MH17 when it was hit?”
8. Med shot, delegations”
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Frans Timmermans, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands:
“For the Netherlands, the first priority was and is to bring home the remains of the victims and their personal belongings. At present, 225 of the 298 victims have been identified in the ongoing identification process.”
10. Med shot, delegations
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia:
“Findings of the report notwithstanding, crucial question remain unanswered including; who was responsible for downing the aircraft? What exactly happened when communication between MH17 and ATC stopped abruptly at 13.20 hours on 17 July 2014? In light of such lingering questions, Malaysia despatched a high level delegation led by the Defence Minister to Ukraine, Russia and the Netherlands last week to further explore the possibility of affording the international investigation team safe and unfettered access to the crash site.”
12. Med shot, delegations
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Yuriy Sergeyev, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations:
“The illegal armed groups who control the crash site have been jeopardizing investigators efforts. Before international experts arrived on the crash site for the first time, the Russian controlled militants had already worked there so to say clearing the evidences. They are not interested in revealing the truth, which can obviously be harmful for them and for those who support them.”
14. Med shot, delegations
15. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“The preliminary report on the […] crash does not address our concerns. It actually provides bases for new questions, which the Russian side is ready to discuss with foreign partners in a constructive manner.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“Russia is fighting in Ukraine, Russia has provided artillery and surface to air missiles to separatists in Ukraine, it has trained separatists on those surface to air missiles, it has moved troops into Ukraine, Russia has no standing to offer advice on this investigation and it has no credibility before this Council in its professions as the story has shifted for months.”
17. Wide shot, Security Council
Two months after the crash of a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine that killed 298 people on board, the top United Nations political official updated the Security Council on developments related to the investigation of the incident.
“While the cease-fire in south-eastern Ukraine, thus far, is holding, contributing to a marked de-escalation on the ground, the conditions are still not conducive for investigators to have full and unfettered access to the site,” said Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.
On 17 July, the Boeing 777 carrying 298 people was en route from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, when it went down in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. In the days that followed, the Security Council adopted resolution 2166 (2014) calling for a full, thorough and independent investigation into the incident.
Today Mr. Feltman briefed the Council on a report released on 9 September by the Dutch Safety Board, which submitted its preliminary findings on the MH-17 accident investigation to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The report contains the first factual findings based on various sources, including the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, air traffic control data, as well as radar and satellite images.
While last week’s Dutch report is preliminary, it does assert that MH17 broke apart over Ukraine due to penetration by a large number of “high energy objects from outside of the aircraft,” said Mr. Feltman.
The report also notes that the aircraft was in “airworthy condition” with no indication that it had any technical or operational issues. The crew was properly licensed and no human error had been reported. The report confirms no distress messages had been received prior to the crash.
Mr. Feltman told the Council that the process of identifying further remains is still ongoing. Thus far, 225 bodies have been identified. This is when unobstructed access to the crash site is critical.
“Winter will soon arrive in Ukraine, at which time it will become almost impossible to retrieve further remains and to collect further evidence,” explained Mr. Feltman.
“We understand that international investigators will again endeavour to access the crash site, both for repatriation of any further remains and to continue gathering physical evidence toward the completion of the technical report,” he added.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continues to reiterate his call on all those with influence on the situation to exert it immediately to create a “promising security environment” for investigators, he said.
Mr. Feltman commended the Netherlands for playing played a pivotal role in leading the investigation. In addition, Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as ICAO and the European Aviation Agency, have also helped the investigation.
He said that ICAO will continue to provide its full support to the Netherlands, in conjunction with its international team, while we await the conclusions and recommendations eventually will be contained in the Final Report.
On 29 July, ICAO convened a special Task Force on Risks to Civil Aviation arising from Conflict Zones (TF RCZ), which has met twice to-date. The TF RCZ will meet again in December for a next round of talks and will also convene another high-level safety conference with all its 191 member states in February 2015.
“Let us honour the victims and console their families by never letting it happen again,” said Mr. Feltman.
