Australian experts are on the ground in Ukraine waiting to help identify victims of the MH17 crash.
RUSSIA will be forced as early as this morning to show its hand on whether it will allow international experts access to the MH17 crash site, when the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution to establish a full, independent investigation.
The Australian resolution, backed by France and Lithuania, is due to go to a vote about 5am AEST today.
But Russia, as one of five permanent members of the Security Council, has the power to veto the push to allow international experts to investigate the crash, retrieve bodies from the site and find out who was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday there should be an investigation.
The vote should flush out Russia's position on whether it will provide safe access for international investigators to collect the bodies, examine the site, access the black box flight recorders and hunt for those responsible for the atrocity.
Seeking answers ... a woman and her son lay flowers at the Netherlands embassy in Kiev on July 21, 2014. Picture: Sergei Supinsky Source: AFP
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a veto by the Russians would be viewed "very, very badly".
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, in New York heading the team negotiating the resolution, said her immediate priority was to get international backing to secure the site and start an investigation.
"I say to the separatists and to the Russian Government that backs them, that there are 298 bodies on that site — their families, their loved ones want them home now,'' she said.
"This is not a time to use bodies as hostages or pawns in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.''
Bodies to got to Amsterdam
The bodies of the MH17 victims, including up to 39 Australian citizens and residents, will be transferred to Amsterdam as soon as possible, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says.
Some 251 bodies are currently in refrigerated trains in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.
Mr Yatsenyuk said the "bloody guerillas don't allow the train to leave" the station at Torez.
But when they do, the Ukrainian government plans to send the victims' remains to the Netherlands.
"We are ready to transfer all the bodies directly to Amsterdam," the Prime Minister told reporters in Kiev, adding the Dutch had "perfect forensic expertise" to identify the bodies.
Harsh conditions ... monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe examine wagons holding crash victims' bodies at a railway station in the town of Torez. Picture: Bulent Kilic Source: AFP
'Fighter jet near plane before crash'
Russia says its flight records show a Ukrainian fighter jet was flying close to the Malaysian passenger airliner just before it crashed and that Kiev was operating radar stations used for missile systems.
At a specially called briefing, Moscow also denied supplying Ukrainian separatists with Buk missile systems or any other weapons, as it sought to head off international accusations it was responsible for the downing of the Malaysian plane with 298 people on board.
Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov said the Malaysian plane strayed north of its planned route, adding that a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet, which is typically equipped with air-to-air missiles, had been recorded in the proximity of the Boeing 777.
The Malaysian plane "deviated from its route to the North ... The maximum deviation was 14 kilometres," he said.
"An altitude gain was recorded for a Ukrainian armed forces plane," he told the briefing. "Its distance from the Malaysian Boeing was three to five kilometres," he said, noting that the SU-25 is capable of reaching a height of 10,000 metres "for a brief time." "With what aim was a military plane flying along a civilian aviation route practically at the same time and at the same flight level as a passenger liner?" said Kartopolov. "We would like to receive an answer to this question."
Makeshift memorials ... toys and flowers are placed at the crash site of MH17 near the village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region. Picture: Dmitry Lovetsky Source: AP
Airline compensates families
Malaysia Airlines says it will make an initial payment of $US5000 ($5410) as a goodwill gesture to families of passengers aboard its crashed flight MH17.
The Malaysian national carrier said it would provide the money to each passenger's immediate family "as goodwill to ease ... their economic needs".
"This financial assistance will not be offset against the final compensation, nor affect the families' legal rights to claim."
The airline said it was also providing families with hotel accommodation, meals and transport assistance, in addition to counselling.
Train station under fire
Intense fighting has broken out in the Ukrainian separatist stronghold city of Donetsk as international air crash investigators and observers arrive in the region to probe the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Shortly after 10am local time, suburban areas in the city were being hit by indiscriminate mortar shelling, sending residents fleeing for their lives.
Internal conflict ... pro-Russian militants drive a tank through the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk as intense clashes took place between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian rebels. Picture: Alexander Khudoteply Source: AFP
News Corp Australia saw at least four people killed in two separate mortar attacks including an elderly woman who had been walking through a courtyard park area.
Ukrainian Government officials refused to comment on the situation citing it as an "anti-terrorist" operation.
It is understood the main train station was bombed, locals reported seeing at least one tank and two Armoured Personnel Carriers on the main Panfilova Street in the heart of the city earlier in the morning towards the train station and the central Zapadnaya bus exchange.
"Why they do this why this," wailed one woman as she took shelter in the basement of a school. "We are just people, not soldiers. The bombs were falling one after another closer and closer."
It is holidays at the moment but in the one basement entered by News Corp there were about 70 children from nearby flats.
Violence flares ... pro-Russian separatist fighters closed off the roads in the area around the Donetsk train station and airport as local residents fled shelling and rocket fire. Picture: Alexander Khudoteply Source: AFP
The last selfie
As Gary Slok and his mother settled into their seats on flight MH17, there was just enough time to take and upload a selfie before take off.
That picture was to be their last.
Dream holiday ... Gary Slok, 15, and his mother Petra Langeveld posed for this excited selfie aboard the doomed Malaysia Airline MH17. Picture: Twitter Source: Twitter
"Gary and his mum Petra [Langeveld] were on their way to Malaysia to have the dream holiday of their life. Sadly they never got the chance to fulfil that dream," a soccer club spokesman from Gary's team in western Holland said.
"But his story and his last picture tell you how dreams of many people with wonderful lives ahead of them have been wrecked."
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