The Ukrainian community across Australia will unite this week in solemn remembrance to mark the 11th anniversary of the tragic and criminal downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 by Russian forces in occupied Ukraine – a heinous act of state-sponsored violence.
Memorial prayer services will be held in major cities including Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra on Thursday 17 July. A national commemoration event will take place outside the Russian embassy in Canberra on Saturday 19 July at 11:00am. Also on Saturday, a solidarity rally will be held in Hobart.
Thursday 17 July:
- Melbourne: 7:00pm, St Peter and St Paul Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, 35 Canning St, North Melbourne – Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox joint memorial service
- Canberra: 12:00pm, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, 6 McKay Gardens, Turner – Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic joint memorial service (the Charge d Áffaires of the Embassy of The Netherlands, the Deputy British High Commissioner, and consular officials from the Ukrainian and Indonesian Embassies will be in attendance)
- Brisbane: 6:00pm, Ukrainian Catholic Church, Woolloongabba – Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox joint memorial service
Saturday 19 July:
- Canberra – National commemoration event: 11:00am, outside the Russian Embassy, organised by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) and Friends of Ukraine Canberra-Queanbeyan. Shane Rattenbury, ACT MLA and Greens leader, and Ukrainian Embassy officials in attendance.
- Hobart – Rally dedicated to the MH17 anniversary: 10:00am, Hobart Parliament Lawns
On 17 July 2014, flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, including 38 Australians. Multiple international institutions and national courts – including the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), district Court of the Hague, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) – have formally confirmed Russia’s direct responsibility for shooting down the plane1.
The ECHR ruling on 9 July 2025 noted that Russia refused to cooperate with international information requests, failed to conduct a proper investigation, spread disinformation about the plane’s downing, and deliberately obstructed efforts to uncover the truth – deepening the suffering of the victims’ families and loved ones.
In the same ruling, the ECHR also found Russia responsible for “widespread and flagrant” human rights violations in Ukraine following its full-scale invasion in 2022. These included unlawful military actions such as indiscriminate attacks, extrajudicial killings of civilians, acts of torture – including the use of rape as a weapon of war – forced displacement involving invasive and abusive security checks (so called ‘filtration’), transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia and in many cases adoption, and other grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law.
“On this day, our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 298 innocent people who lost their lives – including 38 Australians. We stand with them in their ongoing grief and in their pursuit of truth, justice, and accountability,“ said Ms Kateryna Argyrou, Chair, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations.
“The loss of Australian lives on MH17 forged a deep and painful bond between the Ukrainian and Australian communities. Our shared grief has become a shared commitment to truth, justice, and peace.
“MH17 was not an isolated tragedy. It was part of a broader pattern of Russian military and geopolitical aggression that began in 2014 and escalated dramatically with the full-scale invasion in 2022.
“The suffering caused by MH17 reflects the same brutality that continues to inflict tragic human loss and devastation across Ukraine today.
“Russia’s refusal to accept responsibility for MH17 is consistent with its ongoing efforts to evade accountability for its actions – both past and present.
“Justice for MH17 is part of the broader international demand for Russia to be held accountable — for this atrocity and for its continued violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, peace, and human rights,” she concluded.
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1 As determined by the JIT, flight MH17 was brought down by a Buk missile system brought into occupied eastern Ukraine from the territory of the Russian Federation and later returned to Russia. The missile was fired by the Russian Army’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. The investigation also concluded there were ‘strong indications’ that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, approved the transfer of the missile system.
