DONETSK, July 31 (RIA Novosti) – OSCE experts confirmed Thursday that remains of victims are still at the Malaysian passenger plane crash site in Donetsk Region, in eastern Ukraine, a spokesman for the OSCE monitoring mission told journalists in Donetsk.
“During the short time we were there today we saw no significant changes at the crash site. But there are still many personal items [belonging to passengers]. I do not want to say for the experts but I spoke with them today briefly: they say that they saw the remains at the crash site,” he said.
The deputy head of the OSCE monitoring team, Alexander Hug, said Thursday the monitors have decided to get to the crash site using other routes amid continuing clashes in the area.
Earlier Thursday, a group of international monitors and experts, who arrived at the crash site of the Malaysian Boeing in eastern Ukraine, came under mortar fire.
The team reached the crash zone for the first time in a week as previous attempts have been hampered by continuing military actions.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko earlier promised to stop attacks in the area, but fighting intensified as Ukrainian authorities said they wanted to «cleanse» the area from self-defense forces.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin previously told the UN Security Council that Ukraine had violated its commitment to cease military activity in the zone around the crash site.
Malaysia Airlines MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went down in Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine on July 17. All 298 people on board, including 85 children and 15 crew members, died in the crash.
