Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered Ukrainian forces to stop military actions and operations within a 40-km radius of the Malaysian plane crash site.
“I have given the order: right away, Ukrainian servicemen must not
hold operations and must not open fire within the 40-km radius of the
site of the tragedy,” Poroshenko told reporters while visiting the
Malaysian embassy in Kyiv.
Looting, destroying evidence and “impeding activities of the
Ukrainian investigative committee and committee formed by the
International Civil Aviation Association (ICAO)” are occurring at the
crash site, Poroshenko said.
Meanwhile, First Deputy Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk
People’s Republic (DPR) Andriy Purhin said when commenting on
Poroshenko’s statement on the 40-km zone at the crash site that “The DPR
militia guaranteed security at the site from day one after the crash.”
The militia “did everything in order to guarantee the safe work of
experts and international specialists at the plane crash site,” Purhin
said.
“Nevertheless, too many Ukrainian law enforcers are near the scene of
the tragedy. I am afraid that it will be impossible to avoid local
clashes. Provocations by the Ukrainian party are possible,” Purhin told
Interfax on Monday, July 21.
