Members of illegal armed groups operating in eastern Ukraine have set up combat positions at the plane crash site near the town of Torez, Andriy Lysenko, an official with the information center of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said.
“Militants brought a lot of heavy artillery and mined the roads
leading to the territory,” Lysenko told a briefing on Wednesday, adding
that it makes it impossible for international experts, who are trying to
begin working on the investigation into the plane crash, to actually
work there.
Member of the Security Council of the self-proclaimed Donetsk
People’s Republic (DPR) Sergei Kavtaradze told Interfax on earlier on
Wednesday that international experts could not get to the crash site of
the Malaysian Boeing on July 29 yet again.
“Battles near the city of Shakhtarsk continue. Due to this
international experts could not get to the crash site, which is located
in close proximity to this city, on Tuesday yet again,” Kavtaradze said.
It is hoped that experts will be able to reach the plane crash site on Wednesday, he said.
“We are open for work with any international experts. The main thing
is that battles stop, so that nothing threatens these experts,”
Kavtaradze said.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala
Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people
aboard.
On July 29, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed his
readiness to provide the expert mission with access to the crash site,
declaring a unilateral ceasefire within 20 kilometers of the crash site.
He said he was hoping the OSCE will use its influence to make the
militants cease fire in the 20 kilometers range as well.
