A total of 298 trees have been planted in the shape of a green ribbon, one for each of the victims who died on the Malaysia Airlines plane when it was shot down during its flight to Kuala Lumpur. Three years after the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Buk missile over Ukraine, friends and relatives of the 38 Australian citizens and residents who died were among the 2,000 people who attended the opening of a new memorial in the Netherlands to the 298 people who lost their lives. After the memorial’s emotional opening, attended by the Dutch king and queen, Sydney parents Meryn and John O’Brien visited their son Jack’s tree, a crab apple, as planes took off from the nearby airport the 25-year-old flew out of on 17 July 2014, returning from a European backpacking trip to resume his studies. As the third anniversary of the tragedy dawns, no suspects have been arrested although it was announced this month that any trials will be held in The Netherlands. About 100 people are wanted in connection with the disaster, after Dutch-led investigators concluded the plane was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile transported from Russia into areas held by pro-Russian rebels. "It was a barefaced crime that could have been avoided if not for the Russian aggression, Russian system and Russian missile that came from Russian territory," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook. The glistening steel structure, shaped like an eye and set before a dark wall, bears the names of the victims.
In Vijfhuizen, the Netherlands, exactly three years after the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) disaster, the National Memorial for the victims is opened in the presence of King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte.