Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have handed over two black boxes recovered from the crash site of the MH17 jet to Malaysian officials at a press conference.
They also announced a ceasefire within a 10km radius around the crash site to allow international investigators to safely access the vast area where the Malaysia Airlines flight was downed last Thursday.
“We have decided to hand the black boxes over to Malaysian experts,” the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, told journalists.
The Malaysian team of experts and representatives of the separatist group then signed a protocol before the bright orange boxes were handed over.
“On behalf of the Malaysian Government, I thank the government of the Donetsk Republic for handing us the two black boxes which are the property of Malaysia,” said a member of the Malaysian team.
“We have not found the black boxes from flight MH370 (which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March), so are happy to be able to recover these.
“I see that the black boxes are intact with only minor damage.”
One of the boxes will contain all conversation in the cockpit and another all flight data.
However, it is unclear how useful this will be in determining what happened to the flight, which is believed by Kiev and world leaders to have been shot down by a surface-to-air-missile.
The Russia-backed separatist rebels who control the area where the plane went down are suspected of having fired the missile, however they blame the Ukrainian military.
There has been an outpouring of global outrage over lack of access to the site, and fears the rebels have tampered with evidence.
Borodai gave in to demands for a ceasefire to allow investigators full access to the site.
He said he would order a ceasefire in an area of 10km around the site of the disaster, which left 298 people dead.
Bodies heading to Netherlands
Malaysian officials are accompanying a refrigerated train transporting the bodies to the town of Kharkiv, controlled by the government in Kiev, from where they will be sent to the Netherlands for identification by an international team.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said 282 bodies and 87 fragments of another 16 bodies had been found.
Volodymyr Groysman told reporters all 298 deceased passengers had been loaded onto a refrigerated train which left the rebel village of Torez bound for government-controlled Kharkiv.
Mr Groysman confirmed the bodies would be transferred to the Netherlands where they could be identified in “the best laboratories in the world”.
In Holland, forensic experts from Australia will assist in the identification process. A number are already on the ground while many more are understood to be en route. The identification process will likely involve using both DNA and dental records.
Canberra is hoping for a “speedy turnaround” with the Australian victims being repatriated on a RAAF aircraft.
While Dutch experts visited the crash site on Monday with European observers, the rebels wouldn’t allow other international officials into the area.
Mr Groysman said Ukraine had passed responsibility for the crash investigation – as well as the identification work – to an international team that would again be spearheaded by the Dutch and include Australian specialists.
“The world has to know who is responsible for this aircraft being shot down,” the deputy PM said through a translator in Kiev.
AAP understands Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s special envoy in Ukraine, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, meet with the Ukrainian president shortly before the train left Torez.
He’s also held discussions with OSCE chief monitor Ertugrul Apakan regarding when Australian experts may be able to access the crash site.
The Australian recovery team includes 20 foreign affairs officials, 20 federal police officers and two Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators who are due in Kiev on Tuesday.
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