Russia's terror has reached its peak in past five months – Venediktova

Russia must be recognized as a terrorist state. We have had terrible evidence of this for eight years, and its terror has reached its peak in the past five months. Almost 23,000 war crimes have been committed by Russian troops.

"The eighth anniversary of the MH17 tragedy. The terrorist attack with 298 victims – the downing of passenger plane in the sky over the occupied territory of Donetsk region. The international Joint Investigative Team with the participation of Ukraine, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Malaysia has been looking for answers for eight years. The four defendants – three citizens of the Russian Federation and one Ukrainian – are tried in the District Court of The Hague," Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova posted on Facebook on the occasion of the anniversary of the MH17 tragedy.

The Prosecutor General noted that she had been in the courtroom of the Schiphol Judicial Complex last September when relatives of the victims had taken the floor. As Venediktova added, she remembers their pain and longing and the main desire – justice and punishment of all those involved. According to the Prosecutor General, the investigation is ongoing to establish the crew of the Buk missile system, a person from among the leadership of the Russian Federation who gave the order to move the system to the territory of Ukraine, the sequence of those orders, the participants in the meetings in the Russian Federation regarding the provision of military support, including missile systems, for "DPR" and "LPR" terrorist organizations.

"Russia must be recognized as a terrorist state. We have had terrible evidence of this for eight years, and its terror has reached its peak in the past five months. Almost 23,000 war crimes have been committed by its troops, the targets of each of which were civilian objects and the civilian population of Ukraine, journalists of the world mass media who showed the truth about the aggression of the Russian Federation and its atrocities," Venediktova emphasized.

The Prosecutor General noted that the next technical hearing of MH17 trial was scheduled for September 22, 2022, at which the court could name the date of judgment delivery. Tentative dates are November 17 and December 15, 2022.

On February 24, the Russian Federation began a new phase of the war against Ukraine – full-scale invasion. Russian invaders shell and bomb Ukrainian cities and villages, torturing and killing the civilian population.

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