Shakhtarsk, Ukraine: The UN said the downing of MH17 may constitute a war crime, even as explosions and fighting blocked a new attempt by Dutch and Australian police to reach the crash site in east Ukraine.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay demanded a “thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigation” and said: “This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime.”
The Red Cross has said Ukraine is now in civil war — a classification that would make parties in the conflict liable to prosecution for war crimes.
Elsewhere, it was reported that black boxes recovered from MH17 show that shrapnel from a rocket explosion caused the passenger jet to crash.
International investigators “indicated that data from flight recorders show that the reason for the destruction and crash of the plane was massive explosive decompression arising from multiple shrapnel perforations from a rocket explosion,” Ukraine's National Security Co-uncil said.
