Four Corners: Sept 8

Next on Four Corners: the horror of flight MH17 and the aftermath with grieving families caught in the political war.

“Caught in the Crossfire,” is reported by Stephen Long.

On 17th July, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was blown out of the sky over Ukraine, killing 298 people. The attack on the aircraft sent shockwaves around the globe, with leaders in Europe and Australia vowing to bring the bodies home and the killers to justice.

Two months on, the crash site has not been secured, it’s still not certain if all the remains of the victims have been found and the land around the downed plane is the centre of an ongoing war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists.

This week, Four Corners reporter Stephen Long travels to Europe and Ukraine to tell the stories of families who lost their loved ones in the crash – and people whose lives have been devastated by the dirty war in Ukraine. His report paints a stark picture of the conflict and the tactics used by both sides to gain an advantage.

In Europe, Long finds families caught in a cycle of grief, their leaders scrambling to react to the attack. In Ukraine, he meets with families who have lost their homes as their neighbourhood is over-run by Russian-backed militia. In broader terms, he shows how Ukraine has become the fault line in a power struggle between Russia and Europe.

This is a brutal conflict. Civilians are kidnapped and killed. At the same time, government forces have used the crash site as a strategic opportunity to take back lost territory.

“If you look at the crash site and what happened, one of the things that strikes everyone is the complete lack of respect, of the desecration of the site.” – Strategic expert

The report highlights the fact that despite sanctions being imposed by the West, the economic dependence of Europe on Russia has hopelessly compromised any real attempt to find and punish the killers.

The tragedy has also led many to reconsider the strategic future of Europe, with one former top general warning that Russia should never be allowed to hold his country to ransom.

“We should never, never, never be dependent on a party or a partner that is not playing by the same rules, that is not respecting human rights.” – Former NATO General.

Monday 8th September at 8.30pm on ABC.