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THE REMAINS OF the last victims of flight MH17 may never be recovered from the Ukrainian battlefield where their plane was shot down four months ago, the Dutch foreign minister said today, as fighting rumbled on in the east of the country.
Foreign Minister Bert Koenders made the grim assessment in the city of Kharkiv, where he attended a memorial service for five more sets of human remains collected from the site of the disaster and flown to The Netherlands.
“We cannot say at this moment in any certain way … at what moment and even if we can recover the last nine” victims, he said.
The shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 on July 17, killing all 298 aboard, was one of the worst tragedies of a war in which an estimatimed 4,000 people have died. So far, the remains of 289 of those victims have been identified.
Ukraine and the West blame Russian-backed separatist fighters for the catastrophe, while Moscow pointed the finger at Kiev, in an incident that galvanised international shock over the chaos in a country bordering the European Union.
- More bloodshed -
Ukraine reported more bloody fighting overnight, with three soldiers killed, as Moscow denied claims it had sent tanks across the border.
Ukraine’s military said one paratrooper was shot dead by a sniper in Donetsk international airport, where government forces are defending a pocket of territory near the biggest rebel-held city. Fifteen other soldiers were wounded in shelling of government positions around the conflict zone, a statement said.
The deadly fighting rumbled on in the industrial east despite a two-month old ceasefire deal that has halted significant offensives, but failed to stop shelling at strategic flashpoints.
Donetsk’s city hall said two civilians were wounded by shrapnel as the north of the city was rocked by explosions overnight.
A brief morning calm ended with the sound of frequent artillery explosions near the airport, an AFP journalist said.
Two tanks and two armoured fighting vehicles could be seen on the outskirts of the city, while rebels were digging trenches.
“The shooting is getting closer and closer, with heavier weapons. Yesterday I almost jumped out of my bed the bombardments felt so close,” said Lyudmila, deputy director at a local school.
- Claim of tanks -
Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March and lends close political and humanitarian support to the separatist areas in the east, denied the latest Ukrainian allegation that it was dispatching regular troops to join the fighting.
Ukraine’s military made headlines around the world yesterday with the claim that columns of hardware, including 32 tanks, had poured across the border which is under the control of Russia and the pro-Russian rebels.
Unmarked military vehicles parked on a road outside the separatist rebel-held eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne, 80 km from Donetsk.
However, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laughed off the allegation after US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she had no “independent confirmation” of the report.
“If Psaki doesn’t have it, I don’t,” Lavrov told journalists with a chuckle in Beijing, where he met his US counterpart John Kerry ahead of an APEC summit.
Psaki said that heavy Russian weaponry had been seen on Thursday at a rail yard about 25 km inside its border. And journalists have on numerous occasions met Russian soldiers in Ukraine or seen long columns of heavy artillery and troop transports on roads.
However, both the Ukrainian and separatist spokesmen have frequently issued dramatic claims about the war without providing evidence.
- Diplomatic activity -
The conflict has sent relations between Western backers of Ukraine and Russia to their lowest level since the Cold War.
Russia’s economy is suffering from European Union and US sanctions imposed in response to Moscow’s support for the separatists. With Russia welcoming last week’s rebel elections, which were billed as boosting the separatists’ claim to independence, new sanctions could be coming.
A flurry of diplomatic activity is approaching, with the APEC summit in China and a Group of 20 summit in Australia next week, where President Vladimir Putin will have the chance to put his case before world leaders.
Speaking in Beijing, Lavrov appeared to soften Russia’s position, saying that US involvement in attempts to resolve the crisis would be a “step in the right direction”.
“Our positions on what is happening in Ukraine do not correspond with the United States, but if Washington is interested in contributing to the reconciliation of the situation and creating dialogue between Kiev and the rebel leadership…, I think that would be a step in the right direction,” the Russian foreign minister said in comments shown on Russian state television.
The United States should discourage “hot heads” in the Ukrainian government from resuming a full-scale conflict with the pro-Russian separatists, Lavrov added.
But in comments marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, US President Barack Obama said, “as Russia’s actions against Ukraine remind us, we have more work to do to fully realise our shared vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.”
The machine in Kilkenny was used JUST 3 times since 2006?
3 times seems to me to completely justify their use.
You mean they don’t have it already? They should. Especially in rural areas where in most cases the Gardaí are the first people on the scene
News have said that Gardai have shabby 300,000 + kilometre squad cars, wage cuts, shabby uniforms who’s guna pay for defib machines?!
Brilliant Idea.
Won’t taser guns achieve the same end?
The airport police in Dublin are fully trained to use defibrillators and they and the airport fire service have been awarded by the American heart foundation for the amount of lives they have saved using defebs.
Aha ha ha ha, thats the best joke all day!
The Joeys are only security guards not police…
Dublin Airport is officially recognised as the best (out of hospital) place in Ireland to suffer a cardiac arrest should you be unlucky enough to suffer one. Their success rate is fantastic and it is purely down to having plenty of defibrillators around the airport and plenty of staff trained to use them
You obviously haven’t experienced first hand medical treatment from the DAA ambulance service, 9 times out of 10 its a Dublin City Fire Brigade or Ambulance that tends to people on scene
Well Aaron I probably have more experience of Dublin’s EMS services than you might think.
The whole point of CPR/AED is that it’s done early by trained persons. The reason the airport are seeing such good results is because staff right across the DAA are trained up, and you are never very far from a defibrillator, you would not have to wait for the ambulance to arrive. The airport fire service have only one ambulance and if it’s busy with another patient obviously DFB/HSE ambulances will be called next. DAA fire service paramedics receive the same training as every other paramedic in the country and operate to the same standard.
The main thing about AED use is anyone can do it once trained, i.e Gardai, which service transports you to hospital is not really relevant.
Aha ha ha thanx for the Steve! I dont doubt about the De-Fib machines as I see them all over the Airport everday, as for the experience of the Ambulance Service and Airport Police is very questionable, I wouldnt like to leave my life in their hands after the situations ive experienced with them
That’s a pity that you have had bad experiences. I don’t work in the airport and I’m not sure how it works but I presume there is an avenue you could go down to make a complaint?
Anyway I’m sure there are countless people who are very happy with the services in the airport, especially those who were saved from certain death by a member of staff with a defibrillator
Regardless of people’s personal opinion on the actual standing of the members of the Airport Police Service the DAA has proven by equipping its police officers with Defibs in their patrol cars & at static posts it has led to a dramatic increase in number of life’s been saved.
It’s a shame our national police force the Gardai will never be able to emulate this and see such a roll out of these AEDs in their patrol cars with all the cost cutting taking place. The benefit to the community should outway the cost.
i really would have thought all gardai would be trained to a dfib. its very easy to operate once you know how. first aid in general should be thought in schools. the red cross do fantastic work in educating people in first aid.
Sorry religion takes precedence in schools, learning & life skills are further down the list because OFFICIALLY according to the Dept of Edu rulebook Religion is the most important subject.
So, you call the Gardai in the early hours of the morning because you hear someone downstairs in your home, but the local Gardai are on their way to a heart attack victim, which of course, would have to be the priority, because its life or death. So, you lock your door and pray they don’t come upstairs. Community first responders on bleeper would seem to be the way to go, especially in rural areas which could be miles from an ambulance base. They could be given a small allowance for answering calls.
Education, these things should be in the School and volunteers could teach it. Do away with half days on wednesday, teach them first aid and Driving theory. Speaking Irish wont get you a job in Google, save a life and make you able to drive or neither would saying a prayer! But of course, the Irish have their priorities right!
completely agree with ya!
Thanks Sarah, so do I!
what a great local politician! If it wasn’t for him we would have head shops all over county Clare. He was the one who organised protests in Ennis. My son was severely addicted to legal highs, and now thanks to Paul O’shea he is recovering. keep up the work O’Shea!
cracking comment there, I thoroughly agree with that thought of yours Miss O’Shea. I also support the Great work of Mr.Paul O’Shea, under so much pressure from all angles but he comes out a winner every time, My sister suffered terribly due to her frequent visits to the head shop, because of Mr.O’Shea’s efforts, her head is cured and she is back to her usual self, I am so impressed by all his great work in supporting the town of Ennis and improving co Clare on a monthly basis. You GO O’SHEA!!!
A new interegation method?
I agree with you guys. My local paramedics hadn’t got a clue how to put out my chip pan fire last week, and don’t get me started about the three firefighters who came after my house was burgled, they hadn’t a clue how to take fingerprints. Something must be done. Won’t anyone think of the children!!!
Most fire engine carry them and are never called in towns around the country ,and and we’ll trained to use them but costs costs that what it comes down to
So they beat you to death in a cell, revive you, then beat you to death again, then revive you then…
That’s when they are out of prison spaces, they have to fit you in somewhere. So why not a box and make sure no-one is looking while your kicked under the bed!
Sarcasm?
I arrived on a RTI scene St. Patricks weekend before the guards, when they arrived I asked them for their first aid kit, they didn’t have any the female guard took control of the scene and set about trying to find out what speed the vehicles were doing when they came off the road (sudden hail storm – ice formed on road was to blame) she didn’t care about possible injuries even though they have radios and can inform medical and rescue staff… guarda first aid, scene safety, security of injured was and still is a joke. we have a guard who lives locally who attended a CPR AED with myself for local first responder. he hasn’t received or being offered any first aidder beyond basic level during his recruitment training.
Firstly alot of Gardai have funded their own first aid/CPR/AED training out of their own pocket.
Second , like it or not the guard at the scene of that accident was there to investigated the cause and having no received training in first aid or been supplied with a first aid kit I dont she how she could do anything else.
Third I would bet everything I own that there was an ambulance on route because as you were first at scene and are first aid trained I’m sure you would have called an ambulance. Her radio would not have made any difference in this case.
Something seriously wrong if they havent been shown already or do they get lessons in how to lick 99s while their on duty and do their shopping in Tesco also ahead of important first aid training?
They do their shopping in tescos? Are you serious the gardai actually eat? Thats crazy domething has to be done about this…
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