A Dutch forensic expert (C) stands in front of wagons containing the remains of victims from the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez
AFP/ Torez
Dutch forensic experts on Monday began examining bodies from the MH17 plane disaster that have been held up at a east Ukraine train station as Kiev and insurgents wrangle over the fate of the remains.
As world leaders deplored the "shambolic" state of the crash site left in the hands of the rebels, the animosity between the two sides was underlined by intense shelling which erupted again in rebel stronghold Donetsk, a city just 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the station.
Three people were killed and terrified civilians fled, as Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko quickly ordered his troops to hold fire within a 40-kilometre radius around the crash site, where forensic experts were heading.
Kiev said the remains of the 298 victims killed when the Malaysia Airlines flight was apparently shot by a surface-to
-air missile Thursday should be transferred to the Netherlands.
Ukraine accused rebels of refusing to release the grisly cargo, while the insurgents said Kiev could not be trusted and that they would only give control over the remains to international experts.
The UN Security Council is expected to adopt an Australia-backed resolution demanding pro-Russian separatists grant unrestricted access to the crash site to international experts when it meets at 1900 GMT on Monday.
Moscow has borne the brunt of international fury, as the United States accused Russia of supplying the missile system used to shoot down the aircraft.
President Vladimir Putin, who has also come under fire for failing to use his influence to get the pro-Russian rebels to give investigators full access to the crash site, sought Sunday to temper the outrage, saying Russia would do "everything in its power" to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.
After speaking with Putin, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country lost 28 compatriots and nine residents in the crash, noted the Russian leader had "said all the right things" but that he would "hold the president to his word".
Dutch prosecutors open criminal probe
The Dutch public prosecutor's office said Monday it had opened a preliminary criminal probe into the downing of flight MH17 over rebel-held Ukraine, which left 298 people dead, most of them Dutch.
"An officer from the prosecutor's office, Thijs Berger, is in Kiev at the moment," spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.
Under Dutch law, the Netherlands can prosecute war crimes suspects, even for alleged crimes committed abroad, if one or more victims are Dutch.
There were 193 Dutch citizens on the doomed plane, which is believed to have been brought down by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists.
Rebels have been accused of hindering access to the crash site and bodies since the plane came down on Thursday.
The prosecutor's office could not say what Berger would do in Ukraine as part of the probe.
