Ukraine

The court case examining criminal responsibility in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 will begin on March 9 at the heavily secured court complex at Schiphol airport. The case, officially assigned to the District Court in The Hague, will also provide a live stream of the court hearings, and a press center to accommodate up to 500 journalists and 300 workplaces.

The court has reserved 25 weeks for the trial. In 2020, those dates are March 9-13, March 23-27, June 8-July 3, and August 31-November 13. The court will also hear the case in 2021 from February 1 through March 26.

The trial against four men suspected of involvement in the downing of flight MH17 will take over a year. The court in he Hague set different periods aside for the court case, starting on 9 March 2019 and ending on 26 March 2021. All in all, the court reserved 25 weeks in the high-security Schiphol Judicial Complex for the MH17 trial.

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, wants a further investigation into the role Ukraine played in the MH17 disaster, focused specifically on the country not closing the airspace above eastern Ukraine despite fighting in the area. A motion filed by CDA and SP to that extent received the support of all parties that attended a debate on the matter on Tuesday evening, NOS reports.

Russia wants the Ukraine to give possible MH17 key witness Vladimir Tsemach to them. Russia added the man to a list of prisoners the countries plan to exchange in the coming week, Het Parool reports based on reports from Ukrainian parliamentarian Mustafa Najem, editor of Ukrainian Tsenzor.net Yuri Bukusov, and independent Russian news site The Insider.

Wednesday marks five years since the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over conflict-hit Ukraine on 17 July 2014.

MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, with 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew members on board.

A Ukrainian special operations unit arrested a former military commander of the pro-Russian separatists last week. The man, 58-year-old Vladimir Tsemach, served as commander of air defense in the city of Snizhne, near the site from where the missile was fired that shot down Malaysia airlines flight MH17 in 2014, the Volkskrant reports based on information from sources.

International investigative collective Bellingcat published eight names of Russians and Ukrainian separatists they believe were directly or indirectly involved in the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The collective did not say who exactly gave the order to fire the BUK missile at the passenger plane, or who actually pushed the button to do so. 

Prosecutors in the Netherlands are expected to announce its first criminal case in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, sources close to the investigation reportedly told broadcaster RTL Nieuws. The Boeing passenger jet was shot down by a Russian buk missile while flying over eastern Ukraine, officials have said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad expressed doubts about Russia's involvement in the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The Netherlands asked Malaysia for an explanation, RTL Nieuws reports.

In the two days after flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, a Russian troll factory posted over 65 thousand tweets blaming Ukraine for the disaster, De Groene Amsterdammer reports after analyzing 9 million tweets posted by a St Petersburg based troll factory called the Internet Research Agency.

According to the magazine, an organized campaign was launched after MH17 was shot down. The Internet Research Agency played a role in this, as did pro-Russia media who circulated theories that 'proved' Russia innocent in the disaster. 

Russia again blamed the Ukraine for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 in a surprise press conference held on Monday. According to the Russians, the BUK missile that shot down the Boeing was indeed produced in Russia, but was in Ukrainian hands at the time of the disaster. The international team investigating the disaster, JIT, said it will "carefully study" Russia's accusations, but also pointed out that in the past the country has been less than generous when it came to responding to requests for assistance, NOS reports.