UN chief pays tribute to victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 one year after tragedy

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday paid tribute to the victims who lost their lives one year ago aboard the "tragic" Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine.

"As the international community marks this sombre anniversary, the secretary-general's thoughts are with the families of those who lost their loved ones," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesman.

A total of 298 people, 196 of them Dutch, were killed after the commercial passenger plane crashed in the Donetsk area of east Ukraine. The Boeing 777-200ER was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed over Ukraine.

A preliminary report published last September said the plane "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside."

"While the pain caused by this tragedy cannot be erased, the victims must be honored by a collective effort to ascertain the truth about the incident and ensure that any persons determined responsible will be held to account," the statement said.

"The secretary-general welcomes the progress made by the independent international investigation in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2166," the statement said.

The resolution was unanimously adopted on July 21, 2014, and it expressed support for the "efforts to establish a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines" and called on all United Nations member states "to provide any requested assistance to civil and criminal investigations."

The final report of the investigation into the crash of flight MH17 is expected to be published in the first half of October, the Dutch Safety Board told Xinhua in The Hague on Thursday.

The board refused to comment on CNN reports saying that the investigation pinned the downing of MH17 on "pro-Russian rebels."

"This anniversary is another stark reminder of the continuing dire situation in eastern Ukraine and the need to bring an urgent end to this conflict," the statement said.

The Netherlands is leading the international investigation into the crash with representatives from Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, Britain and the United States. Excluding Russia, these countries on Tuesday asked the UN Security Council to establish an international criminal tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of the passenger jet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed opposition to the formation of an international criminal tribunal for the downing of the flight.

Calls for such a tribunal are counterproductive, Putin told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country plays a leading role in the international investigation of the incident, in a telephone conversation.

Putin said the international investigation should be "thorough and objective" and in full compliance with UN Resolution 2166.

Oleg Storchevoy, deputy head of the Russian Air Transport Agency, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Russia has already handed over all the available data about the tragedy that it has gotten, including the information from radar stations. Endi