SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Shelling of the Russian-owned Lisichansk oil refinery in Ukraine. (Screenshot via UkrStream.tv)
In Wake of MH17 Crash, Civilian Casualties Mount in East Ukraine
International observers confirm they have accessed site and remains of crash casualties
Jul 20, 2014
While much is being said about the remains of downed Malaysia Airline flight MH17 and the location of the 298 casualties of the crash, little is being reported on the mounting civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine as government troops have escalated their attack on the rebel-held region in the days following Thursday's tragedy.
According to international journalist Harriet Salem, the Red Cross in Luhansk is reporting that 44 civilians have been killed in the past two days as a result of the heavy shelling of the region.
On Friday, the BBC reported that Ukrainian government troops had captured the southeastern section of the city and had surrounded the airport. Electricity and water supplies were both cut off in much of the city and the Russian-owned Lisichansk oil refinery was set on fire.
"The shells are bombarding practically all the residential districts of the city, including its center," the Luhansk People's Republic press service reported Friday.
On Sunday, officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed that they had accessed the crash site in eastern Ukraine, the ITAR TASS New Agency reports.
According to OSCE spokesman Michael Bochurkiv, the international observers were brought by armed guards to the crash site as well as to a railway station in the town of Torez where they were shown "3-4 refrigerator railroad cars used to keep the bodies of the crash victims." He added that at that time they were unable to verify how many bodies had been collected.
Denying earlier reports that the observers were not allowed to access the crash site, Alexander Borodai, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Ekho Moskvy radio, that the observers had been restricted because of the proximity of the crash zone to "Ukrainian machine guns."
Borodai said that patrolmen "proposed" that the observers not enter "for one simple reason: that if they had come under Ukrainian machine gun fire, responsibility would be shouldered on us."
The rebels on Sunday confirmed that they had retrieved the plane's black boxes and said they would turn them over to the International Civil Aviation Organization, although it was not specified when that would occur.
According to reports, the UN Security Council is currently contemplating a draft resolution demanding that "armed groups in control of the crash site and the surrounding area refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site and immediately provide safe, secure, full and unfettered access to the site and surrounding area."
The draft resolution also "insists that the bodies of the victims are treated in a dignified, respectful and professional manner."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
While much is being said about the remains of downed Malaysia Airline flight MH17 and the location of the 298 casualties of the crash, little is being reported on the mounting civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine as government troops have escalated their attack on the rebel-held region in the days following Thursday's tragedy.
According to international journalist Harriet Salem, the Red Cross in Luhansk is reporting that 44 civilians have been killed in the past two days as a result of the heavy shelling of the region.
On Friday, the BBC reported that Ukrainian government troops had captured the southeastern section of the city and had surrounded the airport. Electricity and water supplies were both cut off in much of the city and the Russian-owned Lisichansk oil refinery was set on fire.
"The shells are bombarding practically all the residential districts of the city, including its center," the Luhansk People's Republic press service reported Friday.
On Sunday, officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed that they had accessed the crash site in eastern Ukraine, the ITAR TASS New Agency reports.
According to OSCE spokesman Michael Bochurkiv, the international observers were brought by armed guards to the crash site as well as to a railway station in the town of Torez where they were shown "3-4 refrigerator railroad cars used to keep the bodies of the crash victims." He added that at that time they were unable to verify how many bodies had been collected.
Denying earlier reports that the observers were not allowed to access the crash site, Alexander Borodai, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Ekho Moskvy radio, that the observers had been restricted because of the proximity of the crash zone to "Ukrainian machine guns."
Borodai said that patrolmen "proposed" that the observers not enter "for one simple reason: that if they had come under Ukrainian machine gun fire, responsibility would be shouldered on us."
The rebels on Sunday confirmed that they had retrieved the plane's black boxes and said they would turn them over to the International Civil Aviation Organization, although it was not specified when that would occur.
According to reports, the UN Security Council is currently contemplating a draft resolution demanding that "armed groups in control of the crash site and the surrounding area refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site and immediately provide safe, secure, full and unfettered access to the site and surrounding area."
The draft resolution also "insists that the bodies of the victims are treated in a dignified, respectful and professional manner."
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
While much is being said about the remains of downed Malaysia Airline flight MH17 and the location of the 298 casualties of the crash, little is being reported on the mounting civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine as government troops have escalated their attack on the rebel-held region in the days following Thursday's tragedy.
According to international journalist Harriet Salem, the Red Cross in Luhansk is reporting that 44 civilians have been killed in the past two days as a result of the heavy shelling of the region.
On Friday, the BBC reported that Ukrainian government troops had captured the southeastern section of the city and had surrounded the airport. Electricity and water supplies were both cut off in much of the city and the Russian-owned Lisichansk oil refinery was set on fire.
"The shells are bombarding practically all the residential districts of the city, including its center," the Luhansk People's Republic press service reported Friday.
On Sunday, officials with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed that they had accessed the crash site in eastern Ukraine, the ITAR TASS New Agency reports.
According to OSCE spokesman Michael Bochurkiv, the international observers were brought by armed guards to the crash site as well as to a railway station in the town of Torez where they were shown "3-4 refrigerator railroad cars used to keep the bodies of the crash victims." He added that at that time they were unable to verify how many bodies had been collected.
Denying earlier reports that the observers were not allowed to access the crash site, Alexander Borodai, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Ekho Moskvy radio, that the observers had been restricted because of the proximity of the crash zone to "Ukrainian machine guns."
Borodai said that patrolmen "proposed" that the observers not enter "for one simple reason: that if they had come under Ukrainian machine gun fire, responsibility would be shouldered on us."
The rebels on Sunday confirmed that they had retrieved the plane's black boxes and said they would turn them over to the International Civil Aviation Organization, although it was not specified when that would occur.
According to reports, the UN Security Council is currently contemplating a draft resolution demanding that "armed groups in control of the crash site and the surrounding area refrain from any actions that may compromise the integrity of the crash site and immediately provide safe, secure, full and unfettered access to the site and surrounding area."
The draft resolution also "insists that the bodies of the victims are treated in a dignified, respectful and professional manner."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.