Ukraine government has accused pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine of trying to destroy evidence at the crash site of MH17, saying rebels have taken 38 bodies from the site.
The Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down on Friday over eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Russia.
“The government of Ukraine officially states that the terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes,” the Ukraine government said in a statement.
“According to government data, the terrorists have taken 38 bodies to the morgue in Donetsk,” it said, accusing specialists with “strong Russian accents” of threatening to carry out their own autopsies.
Separatist forces were also blocking access to the site for Ukrainian investigators and international observers, and searching for lorries to transport the wreckage to Russia, the statement claimed.
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of Ukraine’s security service, said talks between officials from Russia, Ukraine and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were continuing, in a bid set up a 20 square kilometre region as part of a “humanitarian mission” to move the bodies.
“We agreed on the 20 square kilometres, a concrete zone, and we hope the terrorists will allow us to work,” Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency quoted Mr Nalyvaichenko as saying.
However, Sergei Kavtaradze, a senior official of the pro-Russian rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said despite the discussions, no agreement had been reached.
“There is no security zone. It is in a region near the front. There is military activity there,” Mr Kavtaradze said.
An AFP news crew at the scene of the crash said armed rebels were preventing journalists from accessing the site and shot in the air to warn them back.
Quite who controls what around the site is unclear.
Rebel forces, who have declared a Donetsk People’s Republic in the Russian-speaking east and want union with Moscow, have set up cordons and checkpoints around the area.
Malaysia ‘deeply concerned’ site is not secured
Confusion over access to the area comes as Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai called for the crash site to be secured amid claims evidence had been removed.
“On investigation, Malaysia is deeply concerned that the crash site has not been properly secured. The integrity of the site has been compromised and there are indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place. Interfering with the scene of the crash risks undermining the investigation itself,” Mr Liow said.
“Any action that prevents us from learning the truth about what happened to MH17 cannot be tolerated. Failure to stop such interference will be a betrayal of the lives that we lost. Malaysia calls for all parties to protect the integrity of the crash site and to allow the investigation to proceed.
“Since the plane went down, the remains of 298 people lie uncovered. Citizens of 11 nations, none of whom are involved in the conflicts in eastern Ukraine, cannot be laid to rest. Their lives were taken by violence. Now violence stops them being accorded their final respect. This cannot continue.”
Mr Liow said a special team from Malaysia had arrived in Kiev and were asking for support from the Ukrainian government.
“Later today, I will join the Malaysian team in Kiev, where I will work with my counterpart in the Ukraine government to support efforts to retrieve the remains and to assist with the investigation. I will be joined by the director-general of the department of civil aviation, the Malaysian investigator in charge and the chairman of Malaysia Airlines,” he said.
The chief executive of Malaysia Airlines is already in Kiev.
Transport minister defends use of flight path
Mr Liow defended the flight path of MH17 saying it is a busy path like a major “highway in the sky” and the plane never strayed into restricted air space.
“Officials from euro control also stated that in the two days before the incident, several different airlines flew the same route as MH17,” he said.
“MH17’s flight path was a busy major airway. Like a highway in the sky. It followed a route which is set out by the international aviation authority, approved by euro control and used by hundreds of other aircraft.”
There is no confirmation if the black box from MH17 has been located although earlier reports from Ukraine claimed rebels had it in their possession.
Russia places blame with Kiev
Russia has fought back against claims of its involvement in the downing of MH17, instead implying the government in Kiev might be responsible.
Russian deputy defence minister Anatoly Antonov went on national television to reel off a list of 10 “simple” questions for the Ukrainian government, which he said were key to determining who shot down the Malaysian airline.
“Answers to these questions would allow all of us, not only in Russia but also in the West and the east, in Asia, to try and find an answer to the most important question: what happened in the sky over Ukraine and what we need to do so that this does not happen again,” Mr Antonov said.
He said Kiev should release details regarding its alleged use of Buk missile systems in eastern Ukraine, and explain why they were being operated if separatists do not possess aircraft.
The Russian defence ministry on Friday claimed that the radars of Ukraine’s Buk missile systems – the weapon thought to have been used to shoot down the jet – were in use on the day of the crash.
He also wondered why Ukrainian air-traffic controllers had allowed the passenger jet to stray to the north, in the direction of a conflict zone.
Both Russia and Ukrainian forces have variants of the Buk, a surface-to-air missile believed to be the most likely culprit for the downing of the jet.
President Barack Obama called the loss of flight MH17 a “wake-up call” to Europe to join the United States in threatening Moscow with heavier economic sanctions if it does not use its influence to help end a conflict that has driven the gravest East-West confrontation since the Cold War.
Russia’s foreign ministry says Moscow will retaliate after Washington imposes new sanctions over Ukraine and will also impose visa restrictions on a similar number of US citizens.
source: abc.net.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 