Ukraine did not know that civil aviation was in danger when the Malaysian Boeing flight MH17 was shot down over Donbas in the summer of 2014, the European Pravda Internet publication said, citing the NU Dutch newspaper.

According to Head of the Dutch Foreign Ministry Stef Blok, there is not enough evidence to recognize Ukraine legally responsible for the incomplete closure of the airspace.

It is noted that the lower house of the Dutch Parliament insisted on the investigation, because it wanted to get more clarity on the role that Ukraine played in this disaster. Among other things, the MPs wanted to know why the airspace over the conflict area was not completely closed.

Thus, according to a report of the Flight Safety Foundation, "insufficient facts have been established to indicate that the Ukrainian authorities at the time responsible for civil aviation safety over eastern Ukraine were aware of a threat to civil aviation above Ukraine, except that part of the airspace that was already closed," Blok said in a letter to deputies.

According to media reports, the minister said that, apparently, the Russian civil aviation authorities, which were responsible for the already closed airspace adjacent to the war area in eastern Ukraine, also did not see a threat to civil aviation.

The Dutch parliament was asked to conduct an investigation in October 2019. The Netherlands then turned to Russia and Ukraine with a request for cooperation. "In practice, the implementation of this cooperation took longer than expected," Blok said.