NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands — Her voice cracking with emotion, Asmaa Aljuned delivered a parting message Friday that her late husband never got to tell passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 a year ago.
“On behalf of Malaysia Airlines and the rest of the crew, once again we would like to thank you for flying with us,” said Aljuned, the widow of the plane’s co-pilot. “Thank you and have a nice day.”
Hundreds of family members and friends of the 298 passengers and crew killed when MH17 was blown out of the skies above rebel-held Eastern Ukraine rose to give Aljuned a standing ovation at a moving Dutch commemoration service for the victims.
Memorial ceremonies in the Netherlands, Ukraine and Australia took place amid a sharp dispute over who was responsible for downing the Boeing 777, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Ukrainian and Western authorities say the plane was downed, most likely by mistake, by a missile fired either by the separatists or the Russian troops who they say back the rebels with weapons and manpower.
Several weeks before MH17 was shot down, separatist rebels had bragged about acquiring a missile system and had downed several Ukrainian military aircraft in eastern Ukraine, killing 49 people in one incident.
The rebels and Moscow say the separatists had no such missile systems at their disposal and that the plane was hit by a Ukrainian warplane or a Ukrainian-fired missile.
But rebel denials of shooting down MH17 have been increasingly challenged by resident accounts, journalists’ observations on the ground and the statements of one rebel official. The Ukrainian government has also provided purported communications intercepts that it says show rebel involvement in downing the plane.
Residents of Hrabove, the Ukrainian village where the airliner was shot down, marched to the crash site Friday.
Half a world away, Australia’s prime minister remembered the “savagery” of the attack as he unveiled a plaque in Canberra as dozens of victims’ families grieved.
The procession in Ukraine mainly consisted of women and children who carried icons and chanted Orthodox liturgical music, with the perimeter of the march guarded by men in Soviet military uniforms.
They joined about 100 other people, who carried separatist flags and those from the countries of the victims.
