I’m sure someone, somewhere out there is already writing that this strong statement from Nikki Haley is just another attempt to distract from the all-important collusion narrative. But while progressives still mockingly refer to President Trump as “Putin’s puppet,” his administration, especially in the form of Haley, keeps dropping the hammer on Russia. Today, Haley said Russia needed to withdraw from Ukraine and also brought up a recent report which concluded Russia was responsible for the downing of Flight 17 in 2014. From CNN:

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and acknowledge its alleged role in the 2014 downing of a commercial plane, following a recent flare-up of violence in the conflict.

“We condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine and its purported annexation of Crimea,” said Haley, promising US sanctions will remain in place until Russia withdraws from the long-simmering conflict, which she called “a textbook example of the direct violation of the sovereignty of one (UN) member state by another member state.”…

“Despite its transparent denials,” said Haley, “there is no doubt Russia is driving the Ukrainian conflict.”

She also offered her support to Australia and the Netherlands, after those countries asked Russia to acknowledge its role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH-17), which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Haley was referring to an investigation which concluded last week that the Russian military was responsible for the missile which downed Flight 17, killing all 298 people aboard. Last week both the Netherlands and Australia called for Russia to accept responsibility for the attack:

“Australia and the Netherlands have now informed the Russian Federation that we hold it responsible under international law for its role in the bringing down of MH17,” said Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, on Friday.

She called on Russia to “enter into negotiations to open up a dialogue about its conduct and to seek reparations”…

Bishop said her country would seek financial compensation from Russia for the families of Australian victims. “They want to see closure but they also deserve justice and we will be seeking reparations for the atrocities caused by this conduct,” she said…

On Thursday, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said it had “legal and convincing evidence which will stand up in a courtroom” that the missile system came from Russia’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade, based in the western city of Kursk.

Russia has vetoed a UN tribunal to determine guilt for the incident, so the JIT intends to issue indictments for a trial to be held in a Dutch court. On Thursday, the Dutch chief prosecutor, Fred Westerbeke, said the investigation was in its “last phase” but he declined to say when a court case might start.

Russia, as always, has denied responsibility and said the recent investigation is not credible because Russia was not a party to it. As you can see in the video below, the recent investigation revealed evidence that the specific missile system used in the attack was trucked in from Russia on the day of the attack and then trucked back to Russia afterward. Yet somehow Russia wasn’t responsible.

Kudos to Nikki Haley for continuing to press the case against our #1 geopolitical foe. It’s a nice change of pace from the often credulous efforts of the Obama administration.