MH17 investigators fail in third attempt to access crash site as fighting continues in Donetsk

DUTCH and Australian investigators have failed for a third consecutive day to enter the MH17 crash site amid a risky and deteriorating security situation in the eastern Ukraine.

The Australian Federal Police deem the situation too risky, without firm commitments from both Ukrainian and rebel forces to guarantee their safe passage to the site.
The investigative teams are now caught in the middle of a war that it surrounding them in the city of Donetsk, just west of the crash site and now known as the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Despite attempts by monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to negotiate access to the crash site from the city, which is encircled by Ukrainian troops, the message to let them pass through to the search zone has not been heeded.

No-go ... a serviceman of volunteer battalions of territorial defence Lugansk-1 checks passing cars at their checkpoint near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lisichansk, near the crash site.

There are still human remains on the site and important ballistic forensic information to be retrieved which could give a definitive answer on how the Malaysia Airlines jet was brought down on the afternoon of July 17.
There is clear frustration on behalf of the Australians and Dutch, who can do little to stop the site being further trampled as the war intensifies.
The rebels — who are branded “terrorists” by the Ukrainian government for taking over towns and cities in the eastern Ukraine — have twice over two mornings attempted to escort the unarmed investigators in convoy to crash site, but only made it about halfway before deciding it was too risky to push on.

Under fire ... smoke rises over Donetsk city as tensions escalate between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels.

The outskirts of Donetsk are guarded by tense pro-Russian rebel troops, who are protecting all points to the city in hastily constructed bunkers of earth and logs.
The Ukrainian troops are several kilometres away, intermittently shelling the outskirts with tanks, though most localised heavy fighting is occurring outside the city limits on the route east to the crash site.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev with her Dutch counterpart trying to negotiate the clear and unhindered passage for the Australians and Dutch, said she was not prepared to risk the police investigators’ lives.
“But we will not be deterred in our efforts to get onto that site and retrieve the bodies of Australians who were killed,” Ms Bishop said.

Access denied ... members of the Dutch and Australian forensic investigating teams speak in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, before leaving for the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Picture: Bulent Kilic 

The crash site is only 60 or 70km from the Russian border, from where Ukraine has accused the rebels of sourcing their weapons. The rebels are pro-Russian but also seek to create their own state independent of the Ukraine.
The separatists, who have been accused of shooting down the airliner killing all 298 people aboard, counterclaim that the Ukrainian government destroyed the jet to drag the world into supporting them in a war with Russia.
There are now some short bursts of fire in central Donetsk, appearing to come from near the capital buildings close to where the foreign teams are headquartered.

Looking for answers ... a man stands at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove (Grabove), in the Donetsk region. Picture: Bulent Kilic