KIEV, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev has asked a number of foreign countries to hold an international investigation into the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crash in eastern Ukraine, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday.
"We have launched an independent investigation and asked governments of certain states to hold an international investigation into this horrific tragedy," he said.
Kiev has also promised to provide a safe corridor for Malaysian specialists to reach the crash site, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said earlier on Friday.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
Kiev blamed independence supporters in the turbulent Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. Militia forces said they had no missile systems that could hit a target flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
On Friday, Ukraine closed the airspace above the Donetsk, Luhansk and part of Kharkiv regions and launched a special commission to investigate the crash. Malaysia Airlines are also investigating the incident.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a full, transparent international investigation and said he was following closely every report on the accident together with the International Civil Aviation Organization.
