Here's the top of our newsroom wrap-up of the latest events:
The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a resolution condemning the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane in eastern Ukraine with 298 people aboard.
It also demanded that armed groups allow "safe, secure, full, and unrestricted access" to the crash site.
The council adopted the Australia-proposed measure in a televised vote after a weekend of intense negotiations and widespread pressure on Russia to vote in favor.
The resolution also demands unimpeded international access to the crash site and accountability for those responsible.
Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, had indicated ahead of the vote that Moscow would be backing the text.
But the passage came with anger mounting at what many Western leaders regard as foot-dragging or outright obstruction by Russian-backed separatists on the ground near the crash site in eastern Ukraine as well as by Russia, which is thought to hold considerable influence over the armed enemies of the government in Kyiv.
Ahead of the UN vote, U.S. President Barack Obama said that "Russia -- and President Putin in particular -- has direct responsibility to compel them to cooperate with the investigation. That is the least that they can do," he said, speaking from the White House....
Read the rest of the story HERE.
Unfortunately, with Malaysian envoys still apparently engaged in an effort to secure the black boxes from Flight MH17 from separatists with whom they've been meeting in Donetsk, that concludes our live blogging for Monday, July 21. Follow the latest on the Malaysian airliner disaster and other events in Ukraine and throughout RFE/RL's broadcast region HERE.
From our newsroom, based on AFP and Reuters copy but also numerous other tweets and reports from journalists on the scene:
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over black boxes from the downed Malaysian airliner to Malaysian experts.
Senior Separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, handed over the flight data recorders in Donetsk early on July 22.
"Here they are, the black boxes," Borodai told a room packed with journalists at the headquarters of his self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as an armed rebel placed the boxes on a desk.
Both sides then signed a document, which Borodai said was a protocol to finalize the procedure.
Colonel Mohamed Sakri of Malaysia's National Security Council told the meeting the two black boxes were "in good condition."
Good morning. Just in case you missed this, yesterday evening, we'll start the live blog today by pointing you in the direction of an interesting "New York Times" piece on how pictures of wreckage from MH17 seem to confirm that the plane was brought down by a "supersonic missile:"
A piece of wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 that was shot down in eastern Ukraine last week bears telltale marks of small pieces of high-velocity shrapnel that apparently crippled the jet in flight. Riddled with these perforations and buffeted by a blast wave as it flew high above the conflict zone, the plane then most likely sheared apart.
The wreckage, photographed by two reporters for The New York Times in a field several miles from where the largest concentration of the Boeing’s debris settled, suggests that the destruction of the aircraft was caused by a supersonic missile that apparently exploded near the jet as it flew 33,000 feet above the ground, according to an analysis of the photographs by IHS Jane’s, the defense consultancy.
The damage, including the shrapnel holes and blistered paint on a panel of the destroyed plane’s exterior, is consistent with the effects of a fragmenting warhead carried by an SA-11 missile, known in Russian as a Buk, the type of missile that American officials have said was the probable culprit in the downing of the plane.
Read the entire article here
Donetsk water supply to run out in five days? http://t.co/OlmiyxeRsa
— Kevin Bishop (@bishopk) July 22, 2014
Here it goes the next grim phase: Ukrainian spokesman says suicide bomber attacked checkpoint http://t.co/kfKeShQjQe
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) July 22, 2014
First allegation of suicide bombing in east #Ukraine. Info not independently confirmed but not a good sign https://t.co/7hO24jcaB6 #MH17
— Harriet Salem (@HarrietSalem) July 22, 2014
Bloomberg is reporting a potentially interesting development with respect to the controversial French sale of warships to Russia:
French President Francois Hollande said he’s prepared to cancel the sale of a second Mistral helicopter carrier ship to Russia if the European Union decides to expand its sanctions against Russia.
The second ship, due in 2016, hasn’t yet been paid for, making it possible to withhold the sale if the EU agrees to broaden its measures on Russia, Hollande said yesterday at the annual presidential press dinner.
At the same time, sanctions can’t be retroactive and wouldn’t cover delivery of the Vladivostok, the first Mistral warship, which is already paid for and due for delivery in October, Hollande said.
“Can the rest of the contract be honored?” Hollande told reporters in Paris about the second warship part of a contract with Russia. "That will depend on Russia’s attitude."
Read the entire article here