UN body rules Russia responsible for downing of flight MH17 prompting calls for compensation

Debris from the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. The UN’s ICAO has ruled Russia was responsible for downing the airline. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters

The UN aviation council has ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine that killed all 298 passengers and crew, prompting calls for “reparations” for the families of victims.

Flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile while flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014 as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. Among the victims were 196 Dutch citizens and 38 Australian citizens or residents.