Ukraine official: Rebels lay mines near crash site

Alexander Hug, front centre, deputy head for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mission in Ukraine, stands with members of his team on the way to the site in eastern Ukraine. The team turned back after speaking to rebels on their way to the site. Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersShow less

DONETSK, Ukraine // International observers turned back on Wednesday after making another failed attempt to reach the site where Malaysia Airlines flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine, amid reports that the area had been mined by pro-Russian separatists.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set out in two vehicles – without frustrated crash investigators from the Netherlands who have been trying to reach the site for four days.

The OSCE observers headed back to the city of Donetsk after discussions with rebels on the city’s outskirts not long after starting out but did not say why they were turning back.

Kiev accused the pro-Russian rebels on Wednesday of fortifying the area – including with land mines – to prevent the site from being properly investigated. The land mine report could not be independently confirmed. Ukraine is party to a treaty banning land mines but Russia is not.

Almost two weeks after the July 17 disaster, which killed all 298 people on board, safety concerns and hindrance from the separatists who control the area are still obstructing access to the site.

Heavy fighting has been taking place near the site where plane crashed into wheat and sunflower fields, shot down by what Washington and Brussels believe was a missile supplied to rebels by Russia.

Moscow denies Western accusations that it has armed and supported the rebels. But Western countries say flows of heavy weapons across the frontier have only increased since flight MH17 was shot down.

Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the rebels were digging in for battle near the crash site: “They have brought a large number of heavy artillery there and mined approaches to this area. This makes impossible the work of international experts trying to start work to establish the reasons behind the Boeing 777 crash.”

Despite what the West says is increased armaments for the rebels, government troops have advanced since the start of the month, when they pushed the rebels out of their best-defended stronghold, the town of Slaviansk. Since then, Western countries say thousands of Russian soldiers have returned to the border from which they had withdrawn weeks ago.

Foreign governments whose citizens died have complained the site is still not secured and some human remains have not been recovered. International observers say wreckage has been cut, moved or otherwise tampered with.

Mr Lysenko added to those concerns on Wednesday by saying separatists “have mined the approaches to this area. This makes the work of the international experts impossible”.

When asked about concerns that Ukrainian efforts to win back territory were increasing fighting in the area and slowing access, he said that Ukrainian troops were not conducting operations against separatists near the site, but were trying to cut off their supply lines to force them to leave the area.

The rebels are mainly holed up in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, which they have declared capitals of two independent “people’s republics”, as well as in the surrounding countryside.

* Associated Press and Reuters