NPR
•80% Informative
The 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade is among the most notorious units in the Russian military.
The unit shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014 as it flew over Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Ukraine recaptured Izium in September 2022. The unit was active over much of 2022 in the Kharkiv region, sources say.
Ukrainian prosecutors say they have information that the 53rd Brigade was settled in Izium district, in the Kharkiv region.
The confirmation could be important to Ukrainian and Western prosecutors looking to find justice for possible war crimes.
A Joint Investigation Team made up of multiple countries that lost citizens due to the downing of MH17 concluded after years of work that a missile system supplied by the unit was behind the crash.
Silene Fredriksz: "I will never have closure... But when we get to know part of the truth, [it] gives us rest" Shortly before publication of this story, Vladimir Putin signed a new decree about the 53rd Brigade.
He ordered that the unit be given a new honorary designation: the title of "Guards".
VR Score
82
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81
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