The MH17 monument in Vijfhuizen, the Netherlands, 10 July 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEM VAN DER WAL

Relatives of those killed in the MH17 air disaster have demanded that Moscow take responsibility for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger aircraft over eastern Ukraine in 2014 as part of any peace deal in Ukraine, Ukrainian newspaper European Pravda reported on Thursday.

The relatives sent copies of their demands to US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, warning that “Without this, there can be no reliable peace with Russia”.

Their demand comes as the US president accelerates his efforts to reach a peace deal with Vladimir Putin while excluding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the European Union from negotiations.

Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board, most of whom were Dutch citizens.

In 2022, a court in The Hague found that the plane had been struck by a Russian-made Buk missile, which had been delivered to the territory of the self-proclaimed but internationally unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic from Russia’s Kursk region shortly before the tragedy.

Sentencing Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko in absentia to life imprisonment for their roles in the downing of the flight, the court awarded over €16 million in compensation to the victims’ families. Russia has refused to hand over the three men and has denied any involvement in the disaster.