© Dmitry Lovetsky/AP
People inspect the crash site of passenger plane Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine.
A former top official in Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), who recently fled the country, has given
explosive testimony regarding the involvement of the Ukrainian government in the 2014 downing of the MH-17 passenger plane. The incident, which killed all 283 passengers and 15 flight crew members on board,
had been blamed on Russia by Ukraine's government, the United States and much of Western media.
In addition, the former official, Vasily Prozorov,
told a group of international reporters that
Ukraine's controversial Azov Battalion, known for its Neo-Nazi ideology and symbolism, ran and maintained secret prisons in contested areas of Eastern Ukraine where there is fighting between pro-government forces and pro-Russian separatists. Prozorov, who has sought asylum in Russia, also
accused the United States and the United Kingdom of training an SBU division that returned to Ukraine to conduct terrorist attacks in the Donbass region, which has been the site of a civil war since the overthrow of Ukraine's government in 2014 in a U.S.-backed coup.
Prozorov's identity was kept secret until the press conference began, in breaking with standard protocol. Prozorov then introduced himself, stating that he had been employed by the SBU from 1999 to 2018, but - after the U.S.-backed coup in 2014 - had
contacted Russian intelligence and began working undercover in the central office of the SBU. He does not describe himself as a defector, as he stated that his allegiance remains with the Ukrainian people while the allegiance of those who came to power with U.S. assistance in 2014 has long been suspect.
Comment: Mueller's charge was to investigate alleged Russian government interference in the 2016 election and any potential Trump campaign 'collusion' with said interference and prosecute any federal crimes. Was the outcome a success or a failure? For the president, the investigation succeeded in vindicating him against the accusations and innuendo that crippled his administration and tarnished its effectiveness. For the Left, it failed to justify partisan attempts to delegitimize the election and unseat a duly elected president. Unless you were hoping for collusion, that sounds like a success.