United Nations: The UN Security Council will vote on an Australia-proposed resolution demanding international access to the Ukraine plane crash site and a cease-fire around the area, with diplomats pressuring a reluctant Russia to approve it.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his country would view a Russian veto of the resolution “very badly,” adding that “no reasonable person” could object to its wording.
“This is still an absolutely shambolic situation. It does look more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation,” he told reporters.
The diplomats emerged cautiously optimistic that a resolution would be approved, but Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin would not guarantee it.
US President Barack Obama asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to prevail upon Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists to cooperate in the international investigation into the downing of the Malaysian plane and allow investigators access to the crash site.
Mr Obama, in a statement to White House reporters, alleged that Russia-backed Ukrainian separatists are denying access to the crash site to the team of international investigators including those from the US. He also accused the separatists of destroying crucial evidence from the crash site.
At Torez, Dutch forensic experts began examining bodies from MH17.
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, 60 km 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.
A late night report said a Ukrainian train carrying bodies from MH17 has left the station of the town of Torez. Rebels controlling the crash site have agreed for the remains to be taken to the city of Kharkiv to be later flown to the Netherlands.
