Ten years after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was blasted from the sky over war-torn Ukraine, families of the victims will gather Wednesday to remember the tragedy as hopes fade that those responsible will soon be behind bars.

Hundreds of relatives as well as government representatives and dignitaries are expected to attend the event at a memorial park near Schiphol airport where the doomed flight took off on a bright summer’s day on 17 July 2014.

Hours later the Boeing 777 jet was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, as it passed on a flight line toward Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died.

A Dutch court has sentenced in absentia three men to life imprisonment for their roles in bringing down the plane over separatist-held pro-Russian territory, during the early stages of a war that saw Moscow seize the Crimean peninsula.

On Wednesday the names of all the victims — 196 of them Dutch — will be read during the commemoration, its organizers said.

Forty-three Malaysians and 38 Australians were also among the victims from 10 countries.

Memorial ceremonies are also planned elsewhere, including a service in the Australian parliament.

“This remains a dark day. For all of us,” said Evert van Zijtveld, who lost his daughter Frederique, 19, his son Robert-Jan, 18, as well as his parents-in-law.

“Once again we gather to commemorate our loved ones. It’s incredibly sad,” van Zijtveld told AFP ahead of the gathering.

Dutch judges in November 2022 found Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko guilty for their roles in bringing down the jet.