Every week Kevin publishes his very own “Kev’s Column” online. This week he takes a look at the shooting down of a Malaysian Jet by Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine:
The images on our TV screens could not have been more tragic as the remains of hundreds of hopes, dreams and lives lay scattered across a field.
For me it was not the cut away shots of the odd hand sticking in the air from a body still trapped in an airline seat, but the sight of books, toys and clothes all burnt during the crash that had cost their owners everything. Each of the 298 deaths was preceded by a life that touched other people and still had more to give. To see this is bad enough, but to think it was brought about by a deliberate act is quite another.
The shooting down of an unarmed civilian aircraft flying in a recognised international air corridor under the flag of a non-aggressor nation is not just a tragic incident, it is a crime. It is clear from the evidence obtained so far that the lives of 298 people were ended by the use of an advanced Surface to Air Missile system. The aircraft was flying at a height that only the most advanced of systems can reach and only a few countries have them available. Russia is one of those nations.
There will be questions about why air routes were not moved away from the East of Ukraine given the outbreak of conflict. Yet civilians in a war zone do not become a legitimate target merely because they are in a dangerous place. Those involved were at the very least reckless as to what aircraft was being targeted by their weapons, alternatively they realised and did not care, either way they should face a criminal trial.
The attempts to interfere with evidence at the crash site, plus the difficulties with gaining access due to the actions of the Pro-Russian militia, have ensured the suspicion falls on these groups. If they have nothing to hide why behave in this manner?
The difficulty in this situation is that armed militias may wear uniform and carry weapons, but are in no other way similar to a modern military. Whilst our forces are trained to the highest standards and have an experienced chain of command, those in the militias operating in Eastern Ukraine do not. Their officers rarely have any training and most of their “soldiers” are people who have just put on a uniform and picked up a weapon.
The nature of these militia forces is why it is so dangerous to supply advanced weaponry to them. Whilst virtually anyone can work out what will happen if they fire a gun they are holding an advanced air defence system requires real expertise. Similar systems operated by the UK’s armed forces will have highly trained operators at the control panel, someone who will know the consequences of using them and how to properly assess the information they provide.
Despite denials it is increasingly clear that Russia has been supplying these ill trained militias with weapons that they have little understanding of, other than that they can be used to kill. In doing so they have created a situation where hundreds of innocent lives could be ended by one ill trained person pushing a button.
This incident also has a message for those tempted to supply arms to other militia or rebel groups. Whilst it might seem a good idea to hand them weapons to strengthen their fight it is very different to providing support to a trained armed forces or a recognised government. Even if they know how to use them can every member of a hastily assembled force be trusted not to sell advanced weapons on to others with more sinister purposes?
The evidence is mounting that this plane was shot down by Pro-Russian separatists. If this is the case then we must be clear what it means: this is a direct result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias and arming them.
Giving advanced surface to air missile systems to a militia group was a shot in the dark by Russia. A shot in the dark that killed 298 innocent people.