SYDNEY, Nov 18 ― Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today welcomed a Dutch court conviction of three men over the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

Dutch judges handed down on Thursday life sentences in absentia to two Russian men and a Ukrainian man for their role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 38 Australians.

"We welcome The Hague District Court finding of three men being guilty of murder over the downing of MH17,” Albanese told a news conference on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok.

"We've gone through this legal and court processes and we call upon Russia to hand over for justice the people who are involved in this and who've been found to be guilty in absentia.”

The Malaysian airliner departed from Amsterdam and was bound for Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine Ukraine on July 17, 2014, as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

The ruling came as a relief to victims' relatives, more than 200 of whom attended the court in The Hague person, wiping away tears as the judgement was read. ― Reuters