AUGUST 1, 2014
Separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have ambushed a government troop column, killing at least 10 soldiers, close to where flight MH17 crashed.
A military spokesman confirmed 10 deaths but Ukrainian media say as many as 20 died in the overnight attack.
The rebels say they destroyed more than 30 vehicles while unverified video shows bodies around a burning vehicle.
A team of 70 Dutch and Australian forensic experts has arrived at the crash site.
Travelling in a convoy with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe monitors, they are equipped to recover further human remains, the Dutch justice ministry said on its website (in Dutch).
Fighting in the region had previously hindered them reaching the area where the Malaysia Airlines jet came down on 17 July with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew.
But after Ukraine’s military declared a unilateral one-day suspension of operations against the rebels in Donetsk region on Thursday, an exploratory visit was made, followed up by the full deployment on Friday.
Australia believes that around 80 bodies remain at the site.
It is now unclear whether Ukraine’s army or separatist forces control the site, as fighting continues nearby, the BBC’s Tom, Burridge reports from Kharkiv.
On Thursday a rebel delegation held talks with officials from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE in Minsk, capital of Belarus. The talks are to resume next week, the OSCE said in a statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment