Fighting rages by Russia-Ukraine border as two jets downed
The area where two Ukrainian fighter jets were downed on Wednesday, near the flight MH17 crash site, is a surreal warzone.
While OSCE monitors examined the abandoned debris from the Malaysia Airlines plane, the fighting raged some 45 kilometres (25 miles) to the south near Savur Mogila -- an ancient holy site and World War II monument.
The contrast was marked with the immediate area around the Malaysia Airlines flight wreckage, where both separatist rebels and the Ukrainian military have declared a ceasefire to allow inspections.
Accompanied by Malaysian inspectors and a security detail of around a dozen armed men wearing uniforms from the now-disbanded Ukrainian Berkut special forces, four cars with OSCE monitors were seen in a wheat field at the site.
There was no security perimeter, no inspections and no recovery efforts going on elsewhere at the crash site, even though officials said dozens of the 298 people who were on board are still unaccounted for.
Parts of the heavy debris had also been moved.
In the village of Petropavlovka, a fragment of the plane with the Malaysian flag colours was seen propped up against an electricity pylon.
The sheet of fuselage had a lot of jagged holes -- similar to damage from shrapnel.
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Victims of the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine returned at last Wednesday to Dutch soil in 40 wooden coffins, solemnly and gently carried to 40 identical hearses, flags at half-staff flapping in the wind.
Even though they are still unidentified, the corpses that arrived in Eindhoven were embraced by a nation unmoored by the loss of so many people caught in someone else's faraway war.
Boys going to visit their grandparents, a flight attendant in a hurry to get home, a bouncer heading to see his sweetheart were among the 298 victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, whose downing last week has intensified anger at the pro-Russian rebels suspected of bringing the plane down.
Dutch prepare to fly out MH17 bodies as EU moves to punish Russia
Dutch experts on Tuesday prepared to fly out bodies recovered from downed Malaysian flight MH17, as Europe moved to punish Russia for fanning the rebellion in eastern Ukraine that it believes led to the crash.
The remains of victims were taken by train to the government-held Ukrainian city of Kharkiv five days after the jet was brought down, after rebels controlling the crash site finally released them and the plane's black boxes under intense international pressure.
But that was only the first leg of the long journey home for many of the 298 crash victims, with the bodies to be flown on Wednesday first to the Netherlands, which had 193 citizens aboard the doomed flight and is taking the lead in investigating the disaster.
Dutch experts said they were only sure 200 bodies had been delivered so far -- less than what the pro-Russian rebels had promised.
Putin vows to press rebels, help MH17 crash probe
Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged on Tuesday to do everything possible to influence pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and help ensure a full probe into the Malaysia Airlines crash last week.
However he added that it would not be enough without at least a temporary ceasefire by Kiev to allow investigators to work.
France and Britain trade hypocrisy claims over MH17 sanctions
Britain and France are trading accusations of hypocrisy over sanctions against Russia in a row that reveals deeper European divisions on how to react to the MH17 disaster, analysts said on Wednesday (July 23).
The "Entente Cordiale" entered one of its less cordial phases this week, with Britain slamming France's 1.2 billion euro (US$1.6 billion) warship deal with Moscow, and Paris saying London remains a haven for Russian oligarchs.
The row grew Wednesday when a parliamentary report revealed Britain had granted a series of lucrative arms export licences to Russia even as it was criticising its European partners for doing the same.
Calls in Germany to strip Russia of 2018 World Cup
German politicians demanded Wednesday (July 23) that Russia be stripped of the right to host the 2018 World Cup for fuelling the Ukraine conflict, although football officials quickly rejected the idea.
Amid outrage over the downing of a Malaysian jet in Ukraine with a suspected missile, lawmakers and commentators in Germany, as well as Britain and Sweden, suggested that another country host the global sporting event.
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