Ukrainian officers detain militant who guarded MH17 crash site in Donbas

“From the end of August 2014, he guarded the site of crash of MH17 flight which had been downed by Russian troops. In addition, he was selling the picked aircraft wreckage and personal belongings of crash victims to the militants for the monetary reward of RUR 500-1,500. During that period of time, he repeatedly saw at the crash site the servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who exercised overall control and directed the actions of militants," the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.

As noted, the detained Ukrainian citizen participated in the activities of the armed formations of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk region. In the second half of 2014, the man served in a paramilitary unit of Russian-backed militants. He performed the tasks of Russian curators at illegal checkpoints in Shakhtarsk district of Donetsk region, where he repeatedly witnessed crimes and abuse against civilians. The criminal activity of the detainee was confirmed by a photo from one of his social network accounts which depicts the man wearing a military uniform and standing against the background of the passenger plane wreckage.

The man was handed over to the representatives of the National Police.

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