In July 2014, near the village of Grabovo, Donetsk region, Russian mercenaries shot down a passenger plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with the help of BUK SAM. There were 298 people on board. No one survived.
According to an investigation by the Bellingcat research group and the Dutch government, the missile was found to belong to the 53rd Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces and was fired from Russian-controlled Donbass. The suspects in the case were named Ihor Girkin, two other Russians and one Ukrainian. To date, the Russian Federation has not taken responsibility for the downed plane and denies it in any way.
We want to pay attention to another thing, which is no longer talked about today. In 2019, as a result of a successful Security Service operation, a certain Volodymyr Tsemakh was detained. This is a militant who fought in the self-proclaimed DNR and led a separate air defense company from Snizhne. It was from the area of this city that a missile was fired, which shot down a Boeing 777 and it was at that time that his company was performing its tasks there. Tsemakh communicated closely with Girkin and had all the information about the movement of various types of weapons, which was carried out from the territory of the Russian Federation. He also personally led a number of operations to shoot down Ukrainian military aircraft in the Donbas. Subsequently, after his arrest, the Netherlands will call him a valuable witness and demand that he be handed over to their investigators.
However, on September 7, 2019, Volodymyr Tsemakh was transferred to Russia as part of the “35 for 35” exchange. Putin himself insisted on his exchange, and Zelensky kindly agreed. Thus, the whole world lost the only valuable witness in the case of the downing of Boeing, which could confirm the real guilt of Russia in the disaster and once again prove to the world that there are regular Russian troops in Ukraine.
Today, President Zelensky, like the Security Service, calls the terrorist act committed by Russia a tragedy, without mentioning Putin, Girkin, or Tsemakh, and in general pretending that it was an accident.