Poroshenko: ‘This is a wake-up call for the whole world’
The following is an English-language transcript of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after a surface-to-air missile fired from Russian-backed insurgent territory in Donetsk Oblast shot down Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight, killing all 298 people aboard:
Today the war has overspilled from the territory of Ukraine. Over the past months Ukraine was overwhelmed by the events caused by the aggressors and militaries in the East of the country. But the tragedy which took place in the Ukrainian skies today is horrendous.
Today terrorists killed three hundred people with one shot. Among them innocent children, people of many countries of the world. Terrorists shot down a civilian Malaysian airlines aircraft, which was on route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur at the altitude of 10 thousand meters.
I and all Ukrainians grieve for the hundreds of innocent passengers who sadly have become victims of an aggression against us. We offer our compassion to the relatives of those passengers and crew who will not see their loved ones again. For weeks we have shed tears over our own dead. We have tears left for the innocent victims of this crime. Today Ukraine mourns with you.
To read the full statement, visit The Kyiv Post.
(Petro Poroshenko photo by president.gov.ua)
