Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH17 was shot down in a war zone in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev is waging an increasingly deadly battle against separatists backed by Moscow. The task now is to channel the horror and outrage at the loss of nearly 300 innocent lives so as to de-escalate the conflict and put it on a path to a durable political resolution that recognises and guarantees the rights of all of Ukraine’s citizens.
That will not be easy. At a time of raw emotion and a bitter information war, it is likely that positions will harden and the conflict escalate, raising the risk of future tragedies.
Three tasks are urgent. First is launching as quickly as possible a “full, thorough and independent investigation”, as the UN Security Council has called for. The investigation needs to be seen as objective and above suspicion if it is to calm the situation. Moscow should refuse to accept the aircraft’s black boxes, as the separatists have offered, and insist that they be turned over without delay to the designated investigators. For their part, Washington, Brussels and Kiev should resist the temptation to make public intelligence that backs their version of events. If it is true the plane was shot down by separatists, the public confirmation will be much more powerful coming from a credible independent investigation.