KIEV, July 21 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered Monday to stop all military action within a radius of the 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the site of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian servicemen will not open fire within the radius of 40 kilometers [of the crash site],” presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said in his official Twitter account.
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN has confirmed the information.
“I ordered [Kiev forces] to stop carrying out military operations or opening fire within the 40-kilometer radius of the site in order to ensure safety of the expert mission,” the agency quoted Poroshenko as saying.
Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers on board the airliner perished, including 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
Emergency workers are scouring an area of 120 square kilometers (46.3 square miles) around the crash site, and have found 272 bodies so far. They are stored in refrigerated rail cars at the Torez railway station near the crash site in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region.
Ukrainian government and militia have been trading blame for the alleged downing of the plane, with independence supporters saying they lacked the technology to shoot down a target flying at altitude of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
Commenting on the crash on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was vital to abstain from hasty conclusions on the case before the international investigation was over and called to end the hostilities in eastern Ukraine, especially the crash area.
