Grieving Father of Malaysia Airlines Victim Lashes Out at Vladimir Putin in Open Letter 
 
 CNN Newsource: MH17 Investigation Update 
 
 A Dutch father who lost his only child in the missile attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 posted an emotional open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, holding him responsible for the Russian-backed separatists who, officials say, brought down the commercial passenger jet on July 17."Thank you very much Mister Putin, leaders of the separatists or the Ukraine government for murdering my loved and only child, Elsemiek de Borst," Hans de Borst wrote on Facebook , in a post subsequently translated from the Dutch by Lennart Peeters. His letter was also published by the Hart Van Nederland newspaper on Monday.The girl, 17, was traveling aboard the Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a vacation with her little brother, mother and stepfather."Elsemiek would have done her final school exams next year, together with her best friends Julia and Marina. She did so well in school! After that, she wanted to go to the [technical university] Delft to study engineering. She was looking forward to it. She is suddenly no more," de Borst wrote."Aforementioned misters, I hope you're proud to have shot her young life upside down and you will be able to look at yourselves in the mirror tomorrow morning."He signed the aching, angry letter, "Elsemiek's father… whose life is ruined." ||||| Get politics updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 
 
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 Vladimir Putin’s daughter has fled her Dutch home as fury grows over Flight mH17. 
 
 Maria Putin lived just 20 miles from the airport where the doomed jet dpoarted from. 
 
 News that the Russian president's daughter was living among a nation of people still fuming over Russia’s role in the downing of Flight MH17 was only going to spark more outrage. 
 
 And once it became known the 29-year-old had a £2million apartment not far from the Dutch airport where the doomed jet left on its final, tragic journey, the angry protests quickly started. 
 
 There were demands for Maria to be deported and one Twitter user posted: “Its time you leave B*TCH.” 
 
 Another wrote: “Very convenient that Maria Putina lives so close to The Hague. Won’t have to go far to see her father’s trial.” 
 
 Maria and boyfriend Jorrit Faasen, 34, who lived in a riverside flat in Voorschoten on the outskirts of the Dutch capital, fled amid the mounting fury. 
 
 One resident said tonight: “We have not seen her here since the plane went down. 
 
 "She moved in last year and it was all kept quiet for a while. But once it became known who she was, there was certainly some disquiet. And now this has happened. She is obviously not responsible for her father’s actions but we don’t want ­demonstrations around here.” 
 
 The neighbour spoke as 51 more of the 193 bodies recovered from the crash site in Ukraine were returned to Holland to join the 40 who arrived on Wednesday. 
 
 Many blame president Putin for the disaster, insisting Kremlin chiefs supplied the missile that blasted the Malaysia Airlines jet out of the sky at 30,000ft – killing 298 passengers and crew, including 10 Brits and 193 Dutch. 
 
 (Image: Alamy) 
 
 Pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists control the region where it crashed. Although they deny being ­responsible and claim the Ukrainian shot it down in a blame game that last night was showing no sign of ending. 
 
 The bodies will be identified in the town of Hilversum, near Amsterdam. 
 
 Mayor Pieter Broertjes also spoke of his anger at the presence of Putin’s daughter in Holland. 
 
 He said: “We could also deport Putin’s daughter, she lives in The Netherlands. Then you’ve got a whole different signal you could give.” 
 
 He later apologised for the comments and admitted they were “not wise”. But he added: “They stemmed from a feeling of helplessness that many would recognise.” 
 
 Maria’s position in Holland was made more perilous after Ukrainian activists published her address on websites. 
 
 Her whereabouts were last night unknown. But her father is reported to have a personal wealth of more than £40billion, with properties around the world including a £200million palace on the Black Sea. 
 
 Jorrit is also understood to be wealthy in his own right. He worked as an executive for Russian energy giant Gazprom. 
 
 There were reports the pair could be back in Moscow where they can be better protected by Putin. 
 
 A photograph of Maria, published today, will come as a revelation to many young Russians who have never seen her face. 
 
 The only existing pictures are from when Putin first came to power in 1999, when he was pictured with Maria, her sister ­Ekaterina, and his ex-wife Lyudmila. 
 
 (Image: Daily Mirror / Phil Harris) 
 
 Known as Masha to friends, she was born in Petersburg and was named after her dad’s mother. Maria is thought to have studied biology at St Petersburg State University – where Putin attended. 
 
 He is extremely protective of his ­daughters’ privacy. Ekaterina, 27, is believed to have married the son of a South Korean admiral, though her life is also shrouded in mystery. 
 
 As the furore grew over news Maria lived among those mourning the dead of an avoidable tragedy many believe her father’s regime played a key role in, Russia angrily denied it supplied the missile that blew up the jet. 
 
 Alexander Yakovenko, the Kremlin’s ambassador to Britain, said Western claims that pro-Russian separatists were responsible did “not hold water”. And he accused the Ukrainian and American governments of trying to engineer a “cover up” over the real cause of the disaster. 
 
 Mr Yakovenko added: “Russia doesn’t supply weapons to de facto authorities in Ukraine. No evidence whatsoever has been presented that the Russian government has been doing this. 
 
 He also condemned plans by the EU and US to slap tougher sanctions on Moscow. 
 
 Britain is pushing for the European Union to impose restrictions on Russia’s defence, energy and ­financial sectors because of Putin’s refusal to help with ­investigations into the Flight MH17 tragedy. 
 
 The ambassador said: “First of all, we believe they are illegal, unreasonable and counter-productive. They have nothing to do with the national interests of the countries concerned, including America. 
 
 "In my view, the sectoral sanctions against Russia will trigger the long-anticipated endgame of the present global crisis. 
 
 “Needless to say, we will consider any further sanctions against us and the measures of political pressure as the clear evidence that our Western partners cannot substantiate their allegations and are eager to engage in a cover-up of the true causes of the MH17 tragedy.” 
 
 Mr Yakovenko claimed the case against Russia and the separatists had been largely built on photographs and messages from social media sites which had since “proved to be forgeries”. 
 
 But the White House last night accused Russia of firing artillery across the border into Ukraine and said it has evidence that it was planning on giving “heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers” to the separatists. 
 
 That came as Boris Johnson claimed the Foreign Office had been charged with checking the validity of donations to the Tories from Russian oligarchs with links to Putin. 
 
 David Cameron was embarrassed this week when it emerged the party has taken nearly £1million from Russians – including a £160,000 bid for a tennis match with him and Mr Johnson by Lubov ­Chernukhin, the wife of a former Moscow trade minister. 
 
 The London mayor said: “Obviously we are relying heavily on the Foreign Office because they are leading on this and I’ve had absolutely categorical assurances and I think I’ve met this gentleman’s wife and she seemed very nice but they’ve checked him-her out as far as they possibly can.” 
 
 But Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “Boris has let the cat out of the bag about the hundreds of thousands of pounds the Tories have taken.” 
 
 A Tory source said claims the Foreign Office had carried out the checks were “nonsense”. ||||| • MH17 plane crash: latest news • Foreign ministers agree more 'forceful' sanctions • Hollande aide: UK 'hypocrite' to call for French sanctions • British investigators to retrieve data from plane's black boxes • Train carrying remains of 282 people arrives in Kharkiv 
 
 00.00 Thanks for joining us. Follow the latest updates back here tomorrow morning 
 
 21.20 The euro fell to its lowest point this year against the dollar amid fear the downing of the jet will further damage EU-Russia relations, AP reports. 
 
 21.12 French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius let slip his irritation with Britain, pointing out that the British capital was full of "Russian oligarchs", AFP reports. 
 
 When asked on French television about the controversy surrounding the contract, Fabius responded with a strong dose of sarcasm. 
 
 "The British in particular were very pleasant when they said 'we would never have done that'," he said. 
 
 "Dear British friends, let's also talk about finance. I was led to believe that there were quite a few Russian oligarchs in London." 
 
 Asked by the interviewer whether he was inviting the British to put their own house in order before making comments, Fabius said, "Exactly." 
 
 21.00 Representatives to the U.N. civil aviation body are considering whether the agency should expand its role and issue safety advisories after a Malaysian airliner was shot down last week, two sources told Reuters. 
 
 But the sources said there was no guarantee the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would decide to take on more responsibility. 
 
 ICAO, composed of 191 signatory states, as well as global industry and aviation organizations, has a limited role. It cannot open or close air routes and does not warn airlines to avoid regions because of conflict. 
 
 Some in the aviation industry now want ICAO to do more after Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17 was downed by a missile over eastern Ukraine last week, killing 298 people. Malaysia has said it was flying an ICAO-approved route, a misreading of the agency's role. 
 
 No one global body has overall responsibility for keeping the skies safe for civil aviation. 
 
 20.43 Harriet Alexander reports that there will be an 11am (local time) departure ceremony at Kharkiv. 
 
 At 4pm in Netherlands (3pm London) there will be a ceremony to mark the first plane touching down in Eindhoven. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will be there, as well as Dutch PM Mark Rutte and many from cabinet. 
 
 There will be a one minute silence for the arrival and after bells will ring out across country. It's a national day of mourning - first since death of Queen Wilhemina in 1962. 
 
 Bodies will then travel by road the 100km to Hilversum. 
 
 20.19 The delivery of French Mistral-class warships to Russia would be "completely inappropriate" given the West's misgivings about Moscow's role in Ukraine, the United States said, AFP reports. 
 
 "We don't think anyone should be providing arms to Russia," deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, adding US officials had voiced their concern over the deal in recent days to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. 
 
 In the wake of the downing of a Malaysian airliner last week, blamed by the United States on a Russian missile system which it says was given to Ukrainian pro-Moscow separatists, EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to strengthen sanctions against Russia. 
 
 But they remained divided as to how far to go, with British-led calls for an arms embargo putting France on the spot. 
 
 Paris has a deal worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to supply Russia with two Mistral warships. 
 
 French President Francois Hollande on Monday said the agreement was still in place, but added that delivery of the second Mistral ship would "depend on Russia's attitude." 
 
 20.04 The real work will only start once the bodies have been transported from Eindhoven to a military base in the town of Hilversum, near Amsterdam, reports Reuters. 
 
 There, forensic examiners will compare the remains with material gathered from family members. 
 
 "Since last Saturday, for three days already, we have 80 family detectives on the way to the relatives, who collect all the information about the missing people," said Ed Krasziewski, a spokesman for the national forensic investigation team. 
 
 That information includes personal identifying marks, from tattoos to scars. Detectives have sought out dental records, fingerprints and DNA material where it is available, and assembled it all into a so-called ante-mortem file that is available to compare with the remains stored in Hilversum. 
 
 "There are many victims," Krasziewski said. "We don't know the state of the victims; we have to look at what they bring us tomorrow, and then we will see." 
 
 19.47 The United States will release intelligence backing its assertion the Malaysian airliner that crashed in Ukraine was brought down by a missile fired from the separatist-controlled area, the State Department told Reuters. 
 
 Spokesman Marie Harf told reporters the intelligence community would later in the day "be further declassifying information and will be putting out additional information that supports what we have said." 
 
 Harf repeated the U.S. belief that the plane, with nearly 300 people on board, was shot down by a Russian-made SA-11 ground-to-air missile fired from an area controlled by separatists close to the Russian border in eastern Ukraine. 
 
 19.25 The delivery of French Mistral-class warships to Russia would be "completely inappropriate" given the West's misgivings about Moscow's role in Ukraine, the United States said according to AFP. 
 
 We don't think anyone should be providing arms to Russia," deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, adding that US officials had voiced their concern over the deal in recent days to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. 
 
 19.22 Michael Bociurkiw told Reuters all recovery efforts seem to have ended but that at the site his group saw a plastic bag with some human remains left behind while Malaysian experts noticed a strong smell indicating the likely presence of more remains in another spot. 
 
 "We've never really seen that intensive combing over the site - people arm in arm going over the fields," Bociurkiw said, adding there was effectively no security at the site and that so far only a small number of international experts visited it. 
 
 19.06 According to BuzzFeed, Russia Today, the Kremlin-backed news channel, is to be investigated for violating broadcasting regulations on accuracy and impartiality during its coverage of the MH17 air crash. 
 
 Ofcom told the news organisation it was considering whether to investigate the matter further after getting complaints from viewers about RT's tone. 
 
 Anna Belkina, head of communications at Russia Today told BuzzFeed: “While we would love to provide the details of our communication with Ofcom and the facts and arguments that RT had presented to the regulator in support of our position, we cannot do so as it would violate the regulator’s rules. 
 
 “It is sad that the news media of the US and the UK, which has always prided itself on its commitment to asking hard questions of its own government when it comes to domestic politics, in this particular situation is readily swallowing up the ‘party line’ of the Department of State and the Foreign Office, demanding no proof of their claims." 
 
 It comes after Sara Firth resigned from the channel last week in protest against the way the channel covered the crash. 
 
 18.57 The twin sister of a British man who was killed in the Malaysia Airlines tragedy on Thursday has said she does not feel bitter towards those who caused his death, Nick Collins reports. 
 
 Tracey Withers, 49, said she did not want to become “bitter or twisted” over the loss of her brother Glenn Thomas, a media officer for the World Health Organisation. 
 
 She told the BBC she had not been thinking about who was responsible for bringing down flight MH17 over Ukraine, amid the widespread belief it was shot down by a missile. 
 
 “I’m trying not to get too involved in how I feel about what they’ve done because I don’t want it to eat me up inside,” she said. 
 
 “I just want to grieve and carry on the way my brother would want our family to carry on as he was such a big personality.” 
 
 She said her family had stayed positive after the recent loss of her father, and that Mr Thomas would have wanted them to do the same after his death. 
 
 However, she added that her brother’s partner was feeling “lost” and that her family would fly to Geneva on Wednesday to support him. 
 
 18.54 Kiev has launched a criminal investigation against Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and a shadowy Muscovite millionaire for organising and financing "illegal armed groups" in Ukraine, AFP reports. 
 
 The investigation comes just over a month after Russia launched an investigation of its own against Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and a billionaire local governor over the killings of civilians and journalists in conflict-torn east Ukraine. 
 
 Avakov, who announced the move against the two Russians, said in a statement that Shoigu is suspected of having organised the "illegal armed groups on Ukrainian territory". 
 
 Avakov added that insurgents "commanded by Russian citizens, systematically carried out armed attacks against" Ukrainian authorities, "causing loss of life, destruction and other serious consequences." 
 
 Russian nationalist Konstantin Malofeev - an enigmatic investment banker with ties to some of the leading rebels fighting in Ukraine - was accused of having financed the pro-Moscow militias. 
 
 18.44 Dutch PM Mr Rutte declares Wednesday a national day of mourning, Dutch media is saying, reports Harriet Alexander. 
 
 Tomorrow when the bodies arrive at Eindhoven, those attending will include Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima, PM Rutte, Deputy PM Asscher, and representatives of countries. 
 
 According to Michael van Poppel, MH17 victims are expected to arrive at Eindhoven Airport at around 4 p.m. local time and before their arrival, there will be a nationwide 5-minute bell ringing. 
 
 When they arrive, it will be marked by bugle call, followed by a minute of silence. 
 
 Twitter: Michael van Poppel - Declaration of national day of mourning in the Netherlands is the first since 1962, when former Queen Wilhelmina died 
 
 Twitter: Michael van Poppel - As part of the day of national mourning, Dutch PM Rutte has instructed flags to be flown at half mast throughout the country 
 
 18.36 OSCE has told Reuters human remains can be still be seen at the crash site as recovery efforts appear halted. 
 
 "We observed the presence of smaller body parts at the site," an OSCE spokesman, Michael Bociurkiw, told a briefing in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk after his group inspected the site earlier in the day. 
 
 "We did not observe any recovery activity in place." 
 
 18.34 Alexei Kudrin, a former Russian finance minister and loyal ally of President Vladimir Putin, warned anti-Western rhetoric during the Ukrainian crisis could isolate the nation and derail its modernisation, Reuters reports. 
 
 In rare high-level criticism of growing Kremlin conservatism, Kudrin said Moscow should not intervene militarily in the rebellion in eastern Ukraine and expressed dismay that Russians were as once again becoming adversaries of the West. 
 
 Kudrin, who repaired state finances after the chaos of the 1990s, told ITAR-TASS news agency that Russia risked taking a dangerous path internationally. 
 
 18.32 The president of the former Soviet republic of Lithuania, now an EU member, has accused France of pursuing a policy akin to the 1930s appeasement of Nazi Germany over its decision to go ahead with the delivery of a helicopter carrier to Moscow, Reuters said. 
 
 18.29 Turkish Airlines said via Twitter Dnepropetrovsk flights were cancelled until July 24. 
 
 Twitter: Turkish Airlines - Our Dnepropetrovsk flights have been cancelled until July 24th due to current conditions affecting Ukrainian airspace. 
 
 18.23 When Obama visited the Dutch embassy in Washington, Raf Sanchez reports he left the following message in a book of condolences: 
 
 On behalf of the American people, I extend our deepest condolences to the people of the Netherlands as they mourn the loss of so many family and friends. 
 
 No words can adequately express the sorrow the world feels over this loss. It is made more acute by the deep ties of friendship between our two countries. 
 
 Bound by that friendship, we will not rest until we are certain that justice is done. 
 
 God Bless, Barack Obama 
 
 18.13 Nick Collins has more information about the black box and the British investigators who will retrieve the data. 
 
 Officials would not confirm when they expected to receive the black box and voice recorder but Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, said they had been on board a train carrying the bodies of victims which arrived in Kharkiv, which is controlled by the Ukrainian government, at 10.30am on Tuesday. 
 
 Britain was asked to retrieve the data because Farnborough is one of only two facilities in Europe with the capability to do so, sources said. 
 
 David Barry, an air accident investigation expert at Cranfield University, said the complexity of the process would depend on how much damage the two data recorders had sustained, although images suggest they are in good condition. 
 
 “They look reasonably intact so I would certainly expect [investigators] to be able to get data off them,” he said. “They do not look like they have been stuck in fire for 12 hours.” 
 
 In the best case scenario the recorders can simply be plugged into a computer and their data downloaded in binary form, before being converted by software into meaningful readings on the aircraft’s speed, altitude and other variables, he explained. 
 
 If the recorders have sustained damage experts will have to open them up and retrieve the circuit boards inside. If these are intact the data can be retrieved without too much difficulty, but if they too are compromised each memory chip will need to be individually examined – a process which could take weeks or even months. 
 
 It remains possible that separatists could have downloaded data from the recorders since recovering them several days ago, but any tampering would be immediately obvious, he added. 
 
 18.09 The National Forensic Investigation Team (LTFO) will be in charge of identification, with 150 experts from defence, police, firefighters and dentists, forensic anthropologists and detection experts, Ben Farmer in Donetsk and Harriet Alexander in Amsterdam report. 
 
 Family members had also all been asked to give DNA samples to assist in the identification of the bodies. 
 
 Hundreds of people are expected to join a candlelit procession through central Amsterdam, described as a “Silent Walk,” to remember the victims tonight. 
 
 Peter van Lent, who organised the march, said he wanted people to wear something white and join the procession. 
 
 “It’s in memory of those who died,” he said. “And to support their relatives at this terrible time.” 
 
 17.49 The verdict in Washington on the statement by EU foreign ministers on the MH17 crisis is basically a reserved judgment, Peter Foster says. 
 
 While the actual measures outlined by the EU are described as "feeble" by a senior official, the White House is taking some encouragement in the EU's promise to look at "capital markets, defence, dual use goods, and sensitive technologies, including in the energy sector". 
 
 If the EU did adopt these kinds of measures, this would bring Europe much more closely into line with the sanctions announced in by the Obama administration on Wednesday last week, a day before MH17 was shot down. 
 
 The question is whether what one senior US official called "genuine European outrage" over the downing of MH17 will translate into real action on Europe's part. "Right now, we think it's a coin flip," according to my source. 
 
 Meanwhile the US is continuing to debate the merits of tightening its own sanctions further, but imminent developments are not expected on that front, at least until European intentions have become clearer. 
 
 17.46 The United States says it is preparing to present data from the U.S. intelligence community laying out what's known about the Malaysia Airlines plane that was shot down in Ukraine, AP reports. 
 
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the intelligence community will have some additional data to present. No additional details about what would be released were available. 
 
 Earnest said the U.S. welcomes the news that most of the remains of the 298 killed have been handed over to authorities and the black boxes were transferred to Dutch and Malaysian authorities. 
 
 But he says the U.S. still hasn't seen the level of cooperation from Russia and pro-Russian separatists that it wants to see. Earnest says international investigators led by the Dutch still need full and immediate access to the crash site. 
 
 Keyword BC-US--United States-Ukraine-Evidence 
 
 17.38 The airport at Eindhoven is preparing for the arrival of the first bodies from Ukraine - although there is no sign yet that any planes have left Ukraine, Harriet Alexander reports. 
 
 Plane spotters and journalists are positioned on the roof of the parking lot. Since this morning, television crews from Reuters and AP have also been there. 
 
 Albert Bos, a Dutch journalist, tweeted this picture of himself at the airport, with the caption (translated): "Live at half past seven from Eindhoven, where tomorrow victims of the plane crash will begin in stages to arrive back." 
 
 Twitter: Albert Bos - Om half 7 live vanaf vliegbasis Eindhoven waar vanaf morgen de slachtoffers van vliegramp in fases terugkomen. #OB http://t.co/8pUF9XkD6P 
 
 17.32 Aviation expert David Barry explains how a black box works after a Telegraph video team filmed at Cranfield University today. 
 
 17.26 An Interpol team has now begun identifying victims of Flight MH17, Reuters reports. 
 
 17.22 The latest EU demands say Russia must: stop the flow of weapons to eastern Ukraine; withdraw its "additional troops" from the Ukrainian border, use its influence on pro-Russian separatists to grant international investigators full access to the crash site of flight MH17; and fully co-operate with the probe, Martin Banks reports. 
 
 According to the ministers’ conclusions, the EU "remains ready to introduce without delay a package of further significant restrictive measures, if full and and immediate co-operation on the above mentioned demands fails to materialise." 
 
 The Brussels based news website EUObserver reported the exact proposals are to be tabled at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Thursday. 
 
 17.19 EU foreign ministers have given Russia a few days to stop arming Ukrainian rebels or face sanctions on its financial, high-tech and defence industries, Martin Banks reports. 
 
 At a highly-charged meeting on Tuesday, they also decided to add more names and companies to an existing blacklist, which are to be agreed by the end of July. 
 
 Speaking after the ministerial meeting in Brussels, Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans said: "This [the new EU threat] is a logical consequence ... of the lack of progress that we have seen on the Russian side" since a previous ultimatum ran out at the end of June." 
 
 He said he was happy for the solidarity expressed by his colleagues and that the "decision was reached unanimously." 
 
 17.12 Britain wants to impose sanctions on the friends and allies of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to pressure Russia to stop meddling in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. 
 
 Mr Hammond said EU foreign ministers had agreed to look at an embargo on new arms sales to Russia and to look at the possibility of restricting Russian access to capital markets, financial services and to high-technology equipment used in the energy sector. 
 
 "The word is 'cronies': the cronies of Mr Putin and his clique in the Kremlin are the people who have to bear the pressure. If the financial interests of the group around the leadership are affected, the leadership will know about it. 
 
 "We are looking at individuals who contribute to, in one way or another, the regime in the Kremlin and its interference in Ukraine and Crimea or who have benefited from the decisions and actions of that regime. 
 
 17.08 More from the White House spokesman Josh Earnest who said international investigators still need "immediate and full access" to the site of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reports. 
 
 He said the United States welcomed news victims' remains were being transferred to the Netherlands but said: "I don't think we've seen yet the level of cooperation with international investigators that we'd like to see." 
 
 President Barack Obama visited the Netherlands Embassy today to sign a condolence book honoring victims of last Thursday's crash. 
 
 He said he wanted to "assure the Dutch people we will work with them to ensure that loved ones are recovered, that a proper investigation is conducted and that ultimately justice is done." 
 
 17.04 The Kremlin has said that Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Dutch PM Mark Rutte in a statement, Harriet Alexander reports. 
 
 The discussion focussed on the practical implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2166, adopted on July 21 in support of efforts to arrange a comprehensive, thorough and independent international investigation of the accident with the Malaysian airlines jet that took place on July 17 in Donetsk region. 
 
 17.03 The Red Cross has made a confidential legal assessment that Ukraine is officially in a war, Western diplomats and officials say, opening the door to possible war crimes prosecutions, including over the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH-17. 
 
 "Clearly it's an internal conflict and therefore this is most probably a war crime," one Western diplomat in Geneva told Reuters. 
 
 It comes after Dutch prosecutors opened an investigation into the crash on suspicion of murder, war crimes and intentionally downing an airliner. 
 
 17.00 Meanwhile Reuters say the United States is continuing to review its sanctions on Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine, including the downed Malaysian airliner shot down last week, and is willing to consider additional costs, the White House said. 
 
 The United States also would welcome additional steps to impose costs on Russia, particularly from Europe, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. 
 
 "Our willingness to consider adding additional costs is something that continues to be a live option," Earnest said. 
 
 16.59 Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK wanted 'cronies' around Putin to bear the pressure of sanctions, according to Reuters. 
 
 16.55 The full conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels today can be read here. 
 
 But they are not likely to satisfy not the United States and more hawkish members of the EU, including Poland and the Baltic states, who lobbied for tough sanctions against the Russian economy. 
 
 In their conclusions, the ministers said they would only ask the 28-nation bloc's executive arm to prepare for more forceful economic sanctions - including targeting the arms, energy and financial sectors. 
 
 16.38 It was revealed by Cameron that air accident investigators in Farnborough will retrieve data from the black boxes and we have more updates from our transport correspondent, Nick Collins via Twitter. 
 
 Twitter: Nick Collins - AAIB experts at Farnborough will receive black box from #MH17 and could produce results within 24 hours of receipt, DfT says 
 
 Twitter: Nick Collins - Experts who have seen images of the #MH17 black box say it looks reasonably intact and high hopes data will be recoverable 
 
 They will not publish their findings but will pass them on to Dutch authorities, who will then decide what information can be released, AP reports. 
 
 16.33 According to the BBC, Mr Timmermans said the list of Russian individuals and groups covered by EU sanctions will be broadened and a new list drawn up by EU ambassadors by Thursday at the latest. 
 
 16.30 AP report that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "Russia has not done enough to contribute to a de-escalation of the conflict." 
 
 16.05 Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the EU's "forceful decision" imposes visa bans and asset freezes on more officials deemed responsible for Russia's actions in Ukraine., AP reports. 
 
 He says the ministers also asked the 28-nation bloc's executive arm to prepare for more forceful economic sanctions - including targeting the arms, energy and financial sectors - if Russia fails to back down from destabilising Ukraine. 
 
 Timmerman did not specify how many officials were targeted under the latest sanctions, nor did he reveal their names. 
 
 European foreign ministers stopped short, at least for now, of more forceful sanctions that would hit full sectors of the Russian economy. 
 
 16.03 It was revealed by the press office of the European Council the foreign ministers approved a decision to send a police mission to Ukraine as part of the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy, Martin Banks in Brussels reports. 
 
 One well placed EU source said that several EU foreign ministers are believed to be also pushing for an arms embargo against Russia 
 
 Meanwhile, Briton Nick Witney, of the European Council on Foreign Relations and former chief executive of the European Defence Agency, says the Ukraine crisis is a "long-overdue wake-up call". 
 
 Writing on the Brussels-based Euractiv.com website he says Europe’s leaders have "not rushed" to respond to America’s calls for increased defence spending and would rather confront Russia as they did in the 20th century – "from under America’s protective wing." 
 
 15.58 Dutch minister says EU is imposing new sanctions on officials over Russia's actions in Ukraine, AP reports. 
 
 15.45 Maja Kocijančič, spokesman for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU led by High Representative/Vice-President Catherine Ashton, has said on Twitter that foreign ministers adopted "strong conclusions on Ukraine". 
 
 Twitter: Maja KocijanÄiÄ - #EU Foreign Ministers adopted strong conclusions on #Ukraine in wake of downing of #MH17. Text available soon at http://t.co/ycxrbnwAYH. 
 
 15.25 The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has tweeted air accident investigators at Farnborough will retrieve data from #MH17 black boxes for international analysis. 
 
 Twitter: David Cameron - We've agreed Dutch request for air accident investigators at Farnborough to retrieve data from #MH17 black boxes for international analysis. 
 
 The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), based in Farnborough, southern England, is part of the Department for Transport and is responsible for the investigation of civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents. 
 
 15.16 Mortar blasts rocked the outskirts of rebel stronghold Donetsk as Ukrainian soldiers clashed again with pro-Russian insurgents a day after five civilians were reported killed by shelling in the area, AFP reports. 
 
 AFP reporters heard artillery fire coming from the Ukrainian side in the village of Oktyabrsky close to the airport, which has now come under full government control. 
 
 Around 30 rebels - some in balaclavas or black pirate-style bandanas - immediately raised their Kalashnikov rifles into firing position and asked reporters to leave. 
 
 15.09 EU governments are discussing the possibility of imposing capital restrictions on Russia if it does not coopoerate on the plane crash investigation, diplomats tell Reuters. 
 
 15.07 Malaysia's Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai has issued a statement in response to the arrival of bodies at Kharkiv. 
 
 We are relieved that the train has safely arrived at Kharkiv about 11am local time. This is an important milestone in relation to the MH17 tragedy. 
 
 Malaysia sent 18 DVI personnel to Kharkiv to assist in the tagging and transfer of bodies to the plane, I have been briefed that the forensics team and relevant support teams will now have to undergo a process that will take a few hours prior to the remains being flown off to Amsterdam. 
 
 We still need to get to the truth of what has happened and we hope for the investigators to commence their work at the crash site to determine this. 
 
 Families are suffering across the world and once the remains are with the respective families, I am sure they will demand for justice to be served on those who have caused this horrific crime. 
 
 15.00 Diplomats have told Reuters possible new EU sanctions could include measures in the defence sector, energy technology and dual-use goods. 
 
 The news comes as Ukraine's parliament approved a presidential decree to call up more military reserves and men under 50 to fight rebels in eastern Ukraine and defend the border against a concentration of troops in Russia. 
 
 "Russia continues its policy of escalating its armed confrontation," Ukraine's top security official, Andriy Parubiy, told parliament before 232 deputies in the 450-seat parliament voted in favour of the decree. 
 
 14.50 A top security aide to Putin accused the Ukrainian authorities of being henchman who were taking orders from the West, acccording to Reuters. 
 
 "The West's henchman came to power (in February) and have now, in my opinion, lost some of their sovereignty, independence in decision-making and are acting under orders," Nikolai Patrushev told Putin. 
 
 14.44 Reuters reports Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, working through intermediaries to reach rebel leader Alexander Borodai, was a key figure in brokering the deal to get the black boxes, according to two sources in Malaysia with direct knowledge of the negotiations. 
 
 The talks were kept under tight wraps, with Mr Razak initiating the conversation and bringing only a handful of his closest confidants into the discussions. 
 
 "It was the Prime Minister's project," one of the sources said. 
 
 "He was the main player and he kept this within a very, very, very tight circle. Even some of his closest advisers were not part of this circle, and were surprised by this deal." 
 
 14.35 Tributes continue to be paid to the victims of MH17 at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport as the thick carpet of flowers keeps on growing, Harriet Alexander reports. 
 
 A little boy has just turned up with his mother - wearing an oversized pilot's hat, which dwarfed his small head. They stood and looked at the piles of sunflowers, roses and cuddly toys, hugging each other silently. 
 
 A team of airport workers have also just been to visit and lay flowers. 
 
 Many people simply stand by the railings in tears, reading the tributes. 
 
 14.23 Meanwhile ABC News reports Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe told its reporters that the wreckage from the plane had been "significantly altered". 
 
 According to Mr Bociurkiw, major pieces of the front of the plane appear to have been cut away. 
 
 The investigators also observed an individual cutting into the wreckage using power tools, ABC News reported. 
 
 14.18 European Union governments will discuss a specific list of possible new targets for Russia sanctions on Thursday, but will make no decisions at Tuesday's meeting of EU foreign ministers, diplomats told Reuters. 
 
 EU foreign ministers met in Brussels today to discuss their response to the downing of the flight, and any new sanctions to be imposed against Moscow over the crisis in the former Soviet republic. 
 
 "There will be no names for the sanction list today," one EU diplomat said. "The European Commission will propose new names for (discussion) on Thursday." 
 
 14.15 Meanwhile in France, Harriet Alexander says the website of Franceinfo television analyses how sanctions could be implemented - and what impact they would have on France. 
 
 President Francois Hollande has said that the first of two Mistral warships ordered by Russia would be delivered - because the contract was signed in 2011, the ship is almost ready to be delivered, and if France reneges on the contract they will have to reimburse Russia to the tune of over a billion euros. But on the second warship, Mr Hollande is less emphatic. 
 
 "That will depend on the attitude of Russia," he said on Monday evening. "I have stated that very clearly. But at the moment, no sanctions have been decided which would force us to renounce the deal." 
 
 A French government source told the website that sanctions which would prevent the delivery of the warship were not currently on the table. "France for now wants the sanctions to be financial, targeted and rapid," said a source close to Mr Hollande. 
 
 14.12 Dmitri Rogozine, the Russian deputy prime minister, has spoken of his doubts about whether France will have to do a u-turn on selling warships to the country, Harriet Alexander reports. 
 
 The deputy prime minister has said he doubts France will be pressured into reneging on the deal to sell warships to Russia. 
 
 "We're talking about billions of euros," he said. 
 
 "France is very practical and I doubt that the delivery will be cancelled." And he added: "The cancellation of the order would be a lot less damaging to Russia than it would be to France." 
 
 13.46 AFP reports the Ukraine interior ministry has said its forces have gained control over the strategically important town of Severodonetsk from pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. 
 
 Ukraine's security forces were in control of "all the vital facilities" in the city of around 110,000, located roughly 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the north of the key rebel stronghold of Donetsk, the ministry said in a statement. 
 
 13.43 Putin has vowed to do everything possible to influence pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and help ensure a full investigation into the crash, according to AP and Russian agencies. He told a meeting of Russia's national security council: 
 
 Russia will do everything in its power for a full, comprehensive, deep, and transparent investigation. We are asked to exert influence on the militants of the south-east (of Ukraine). Of course we will do everything in our power." 
 
 13.20 The Dutch prime minister has been giving details of the next stage in the journey of the 298 bodies to their final resting place. Harriet Alexander reports: 
 
 Mark Rutte said that the bodies, travelling in a refrigerated train from Donetsk, had arrived in Kharkiv - where Dutch Air Force planes were waiting. 
 
 The Hercules C-130 planes would, early tomorrow morning, begin flying the bodies back to Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The operation would be done in phases, he said. 
 
 And from there they would be taken to the military base at Hilversum, near Amsterdam. 
 
 But he warned not to expect immediate release of the bodies to the families. 
 
 "Identification of bodies can sometimes happen fast, but might in some cases take weeks or months," he said. 
 
 12.42 Hillary Clinton last night called for the US and Europe to work together to develop tougher sanctions against Russia. AP reports: 
 
 Clinton said in a Facebook chat from the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, that tougher sanctions would make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin "that there is a price to pay for this kind of behavior." The former secretary of state said she agreed with Obama's comments earlier Monday urging "immediate and full access" for investigators combing through the wreckage of the downed plane. 
 
 "We should do more to ensure a thorough investigation that not only respects those who were murdered in the attack on the plane, but also tries to find answers to who is responsible," Clinton wrote during the question-and-answer session on the popular social media site. 
 
 12.32 Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has not shown the same resolve to slap sanctions on Russia as David Cameron has, reports Harriet Alexander. 
 
 While Rutte has been outspoken about the treatment of the bodies and the urgency for them to be returned to their families, he has only suggested further retaliation if Putin blocks repatriation. 
 
 Yesterday he said in parliament that their priority was returning the bodies - skirting the sanction issue somewhat. 
 
 But the NRC newspaper here puts it more bluntly. Their front page today shows Putin and Rutte with the headline: "Time for a break?" 
 
 De Telegraaf, a leading newspaper in the Netherlands, shows King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, with the headline: "We're not letting go of each other." 
 
 Below the fold of the page, their reporter writes of "tensions over the release of the bodies" and tells of "goosebumps on seeing the crash site." 
 
 12.26 Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, has called for a multinational force to be deployed to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine to put an end to an attempted cover-up and “evidence tampering on an industrial scale”. Jonathan Pearlman reports 
 
 Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, has called for a multinational force to be deployed to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine to put an end to an attempted cover-up and “evidence tampering on an industrial scale”. 
 
 Condemning the disturbing scenes emerging from the debris field, Mr Abbott said the countries worst affected by the attack should have an opportunity to send troops to ensure the remains of victims and all evidence were recovered without interference. 
 
 Australia lost 37 citizens and residents on the flight, which was carrying 298 passengers from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur; the Netherlands and Malaysia were the worst-affected nations. 
 
 “After the crime, comes the cover-up,” Mr Abbott said. 
 
 “What we have seen is evidence tampering on an industrial scale and obviously that has to stop. A multinational police force, or a multinational force of some kind, is not something that can be just summonsed up in a matter of a few hours, but obviously there does need to be security at this site.” 
 
 12.14 The first bodies of MH17 victims will not arrive in the Netherlands until Wednesday, the country's prime minister has announced. 
 
 "Tomorrow the first plane [with bodies] will leave for Eindhoven," in the southern Netherlands, Mark Rutte told journalists after the bodies arrived in Ukraine's Kharkiv from rebel-held territory. 
 
 12.10 With the tacit approval of Malaysia's leaders, hundreds of protestors have gathered outside the Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur to demand justice and action from Moscow. Tom Phillips reports from Malaysia: 
 
 Demonstrators descended on the tree-lined Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday afternoon carrying banners that read: “Can we trust Russia to tell the truth?”, “President Putin, we demand justice” and “Genocide at 33,000ft”. 
 
 “We don’t want any more cover up about this matter. The whole nation wants to know the real story,” Armand Azha Abu Hanifah, one of the organisers, told The Telegraph. “What is going on?” 
 
 “I believe they are trying to hide something and that is why we are here today,” said Mohamad Kassim Ali, a 50 year-old, who was one of perhaps 300 protesters outside the embassy compound. 
 
 The organisers, members of the youth wing of Unmo, Malaysia’s ruling party, insisted their demonstration was not political. 
 
 Yet having received tacit support from Malaysia’s leaders the protest was precisely that. Black-clad demonstrators came on specially chartered coaches to send Moscow the message that Malaysia’s politicians have so far felt unable to publicly deliver themselves. 
 
 “Mr Putin should do more than just talk,” said Ibdilillah Ishak, a 38-year-old youth wing organiser. “It has taken them four days to actually do something. Are they hiding the truth? What is going on? Why are they hiding the truth?” 
 
 “To me, this is a genocide of 298 people at 33,000 feet,” Mr Ishak added. “Who will fight for them, if not the Malaysians right now?” 
 
 11.51 The EU is compromimsing its values in order to protect its trade ties with Russia, Lithuania's president has suggested, as EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels to decide whether to strengthen sanctions against Moscow over the MH17 disaster. 
 
 "We see the Mistralisation of European policy," Dalia Grybauskaite said earlier today, referring to a 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion) deal to supply Russia with two French Mistral warships. 
 
 Values and security are undermined for the sake of business, when 'buy and rule' is being applied... 
 
 The sale of military technology to Russia the under current circumstances cannot be tolerated... 
 
 Nazism was not stopped in the 1930s, and we now we see great-Russia chauvinism which leads to things like an attack against a civilian airliner 
 
 Those who organised, ordered and supplied weapons must be held responsible, before the Hague Tribunal 
 
 
 
 Dalia Grybauskaite, Lithuania’s President (GETTY) 
 
 11.33 Colin Brazier, the Sky News journalist who came under fire for picking up MH17 victims' luggage live on air, has apologised for his "error of judgement. 
 
 Writing in the Guardian, Mr Brazier said: 
 
 At the weekend I got things wrong. If there was someone to apologise to in person, I would. While presenting Sky's lunchtime coverage of the flight MH17 disaster, I stooped down to look at a piece of debris. It was a child's suitcase. I put my hand inside and lifted up a water bottle and a set of keys. As I did so my mental circuit-breaker finally engaged and I apologised instantly on-air for what I was doing. 
 
 Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a pink drinking flask. It looked familiar. My six-year-old daughter, Kitty, has one just like it... 
 
 Too late, I realised that I was crossing a line. 
 
 11.13 David Cameron is a hypocrite who should "start by cleaning up his own backyard" before lecturing France on selling military equipment to Russia, the head of Francois Hollande's ruling Socialist Party has said. 
 
 Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, told i>Tele television on Tuesday: 
 
 Hollande is not backing down. He is delivering the first (ship) despite the fact he is being asked not to. 
 
 This is a false debate led by hypocrites ... When you see how many (Russian) oligarchs have sought refuge in London, David Cameron should start by cleaning up his own backyard. 
 
 
 
 Catherine Ashton talks with Philip Hammond in Brussels (THIERRY CHARLIER/AFP/GETTY) 
 
 11.00 Philip Hammond, the new British foreign secretary, has arrived in Brussels for the meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss a collective response to the Ukraine crisis, as well as Gaza. He said: 
 
 This terrible incident happened in the first place because of Russia's support to the separatists in eastern Ukraine, because of the flow of heavy weapons from Russia into eastern Ukraine, and we have to address that issue. 
 
 The world has changed since the European council last week. 
 
 The events of last Thursday have changed public expectations on us and we have to send a clear signal from our meeting today that we recognise that and that we are going to go further as a consequence of what has happened. 
 
 
 
 One of the two black boxes recovered from the crash site of the MH17 jet during a press conference in Donetsk (DAMIEN SIMONART/AFP/GETTY) 
 
 10.36 Harriet Alexander is in Amsterdam, where victims' families and friends are mourning their loved ones: 
 
 There has been a steady stream of people coming to leave flowers outside Schiphol airport this morning. 
 
 This bouquet has been left with the headline from yesterday's De Telegraaf - a newspaper here in the Netherlands. It reads: "Give us our people back". 
 
 Some 193 of the 298 victims of the disaster were from Holland. 
 
 The Dutch government has yet to announce which airport the bodies will be transferred to later on today. Schipol airport, in Amsterdam, was the point of origin of MH17's final journey. 
 
 10.28 Roland Oliphant reports from Donetsk for the Telegraph on the "official" handover of the MH17 black boxes to Malaysian officials, which delayed the movement of victims' corpses from the city up to Kharkiv: 
 
 The train carrying both the bodies of the victims and the “black box” flight recorders has arrived in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. 
 
 The departure was delayed by last-minute wrangling over the handover of the black boxes, which had originally been scheduled for 9.00pm local time last night (7.00pm UK time). 
 
 After several hours of closed-door negotiations, rebel prime minister Alexander Borodai finally emerged to hand over the flight recorders to Malaysian officials at 1.00am... 
 
 It emerged during the handover ceremony that 282 bodies and 87 body parts were on the train. That leaves 16 casualties as yet unaccounted for. 
 
 It is not clear what held up the transfer, which appears to have followed intense international diplomacy on Friday. 
 
 But the rebels appear to have gone to great lengths to make the hand over as “official” as possible, summoning the international press to the headquarters of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic to witness rebel and Malaysian officials signing protocols to confirm the transaction. 
 
 The documents are of great symbolic value to the rebels because they represent the first international agreement the unrecognised “Republic” has ever signed - making it the nearest the breakaway state has ever come to official recognition. 
 
 10.18 EU foreign ministers have arrived in Brussels for a meeting in which tougher, sector-level sanctions against Russia over MH17 are expected to be top of the agenda. 
 
 On arrival, Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for tougher sanctions against the Kremlin. 
 
 Germany has traditionally been seen as softer on Russia than many of its EU allies due to close energy import and manufacturing export links, but Angela Merkel is believed to have run out of patience with Vladimir Putin in recent days. 
 
 10.05 Photographs have emerged appearing to show the arrival of the refrigerated train carriages containing 282 MH17 victims' bodies at Kharkiv. 
 
 The victims' corpses arrived at a train station in the Kiev-held industrial hub. 
 
 They are due to be airlifted to the Netherlands later today. 
 
 
 
 The train carrying the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 arrives in Kharkiv (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) 
 
 09.45 The French port of Saint-Nazaire is divided over the arrival of Russian sailors for training on the new warships Paris is controversially selling to the Kremlin, reports the New York Times. 
 
 09.20 A train carrying the remains of victims of a Malaysian plane downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine arrived in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reports. 
 
 Ukrainian officials say the remains will be taken to the Netherlands. Almost 300 people were killed when the Malaysian airliner went down on Thursday, most of them were Dutch. 
 
 08.48 Tributes have been laid to the victims of MH17 at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport - from which the ill-fated flight departed last Thursday. The Telegraph's Harriet Alexander reports: 
 
 Outside Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a huge carpet of flowers has been laid in memory of the 298 victims. 
 
 Candles flickered among the countless bunches of roses, lilies and sunflowers - a tribute all the more poignant given that the plane crashed in a field of Ukrainian sunflowers. 
 
 And as a gesture to the 80 children who lost their lives, many stuffed toys and cartoon cards were among the flowers. 
 
 A queue of people lined up silently to sign a book of condolences. 
 
 One woman, a KLM air stewardess, had tears pouring down her cheek as she signed the book, and placed her flowers on the pavement. She paused, then stood quickly and went to get her flight. 
 
 
 
 Outside Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a huge carpet of flowers has been laid in memory of the 298 victims (HARRIET ALEXANDER/THE TELEGRAPH) 
 
 One woman, a KLM air stewardess, had tears pouring down her cheek asshe signed the book, and placed her flowers on the pavement (HARRIET ALEXANDER/THE TELEGRAPH) 
 
 08.35 American anger is growing over France's arms deal with the Kremlin, reports Peter Foster, the Telegraph's US Editor. 
 
 The United States is continuing to pile pressure on France to suspend a $1.6bn (£1bn) defence contract with the Russian government amid calls for Europe to adopt meaningful sanctions against Moscow following the downing of Flight MH17. 
 
 As EU foreign ministers, including Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, meet in Brussels later today to discuss toughening sanctions, the French refusal to halt the contract to supply two helicopter carriers to the Russian navy has come under particular fire. 
 
 The fact that France is still providing training to Russian service personnel was the subject of heated contacts between US and European officials last the weekend, officials said, as months of tension over the project came to a head. 
 
 "The Americans are absolutely furious about the French still training the Russians," a Western diplomatic source told The Telegraph in Washington. "The question everyone is asking is, 'at what point does Europe draw the line?'" 
 
 08.20 Protests are taking place outside the Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, reports Tom Phillips. 
 
 Twitter: Tom Phillips - Protest leading shouting: 'Russia we demand an answer. 298 people have died. You killed 298 people Russia. We demand the truth.' #mh17 
 
 Earlier at the same embassy Lyudmila G Vorobyev, the Russian ambassador, gave a defiant press conference in which she said Putin is being 'demonised' over MH17 and that pro-Russian rebels are not responsible for the disaster. 
 
 07.20 Roland Oliphant is in Ukraine for the Telegraph, and reports on another delay in the movement of the MH17 victims' bodies. 
 
 The bodies train was held up in Donetsk last night while the Malaysians and the rebels haggled over the Black boxes. Ifax reports it finally left Donetsk station, carrying bodies, black boxes, and Malaysian and OSCE personnel about an hour ago... It should get to Kharkiv by about 4pm local time (2pm London), though the journey is unpredictable 
 
 05.40 China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Beijing welcomes the recently passed UN resolution on downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, demanding those responsible be held to account, and called for a ceasefire in Ukraine. 
 
 Wang made the comments in Caracas while accompanying Chinese president Xi Jinping on an ongoing Latin American tour. 
 
 Wang called for the International Civil Aviation Organization to be allowed to play a key role in the investigation and said international investigators should be given full access to the crash site. 
 
 We urged all Ukrainian parties concerned to cease fire as soon as possible and conduct dialogue and consultation so as to seek a comprehensive, lasting and balanced political solution,” he said. 
 
 04.45 Australia’s consumer watchdog has warned people to be wary of scams seeking to take advantage of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 tragedy, saying false Facebook profiles had already been set up. 
 
 In an attempt to make money from the tragedy of the jet which was apparently shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 on board, fake social media profiles of some Australian victims had been created, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said. 
 
 The profiles direct people to a blog, where they are then bombarded with dubious advertisements,” the ACCC said in a statement. 
 
 “If you click on the advertisement, the scammer can make money from the advertising ‘service’ (where they receive advertising revenue for each click through to a client’s website or product).” 
 
 Scammers are well known to use major news stories – including tragedies such as missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the 2013 Boston marathon bombing – to seek donations for fake charities, the ACCC warned. 
 
 03.55 Malaysia Airlines has been forced to defended itself after confirming that it diverted a London to Kuala Lumpur flight over Syrian airspace, when its usual route over Ukraine was closed in the wake of MH17 being downed. 
 
 The company said in a statement that MH4’s flight path was in accordance with routes approved by the United Nations’ aviation agency International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO). 
 
 “As per the notice to airmen issued by the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, the Syrian airspace was not subject to restrictions. At all times, MH004 was in airspace approved by ICAO,” it said. 
 
 Dozens of airlines previously flying over crisis-stricken eastern Ukraine abandoned the well-used route between Asia and Europe after MH17 went down with the loss of 298 lives. 
 
 Previous MH4 Airbus A380s have flown over Turkey, according to air traffic tracker Flightradar24. 
 
 But it posted on Twitter that Sunday’s flight flew over war-torn Syria, where the conflict is raging both on the ground and in the air. 
 
 Twitter: Flightradar24 - As far as we have seen #MH4 was the only transcontinental flight going over Syria. 
 
 02.40 The Financial Times have published a photograph they say offers clear evidence flight MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Their photograph shows a piece of the downed Boeing 777 with a large hole ripped in it, smaller holes around that and with burn marks, pointing towards a missile strike as the likely cause. 
 
 The wreckage was recovered by the people of Petropavlovka from a villager’s back yard last Thursday and moved to the roadside because it was believed to be important. 
 
 Two defence analysts in London and a former military pilot who have studied the picture corroborated the claim by a local man, who said he had served in the military, that much of the damage was consistent with a missile strike." 
 
 MH17: FT photo shows signs of damage from missile strike 
 
 02.00 To reiterate the main news of the last few hours, a train carrying the remains of 280 people killed in the Malaysian plane disaster was finally allowed to leave the rebel-held region of eastern Ukraine as the militants also declared a truce around the crash site and handed over the black boxes from the plane, five days after the tragedy happened. 
 
 Twitter: Paul Sonne - The Donetsk rebel government tweets photos of the documents it has signed with Malaysia. http://t.co/Qt1P463bU6 
 
 00.50 Hillary Clinton believes the US and Europe should work together to develop much tougher sanctions on Russia. 
 
 Clinton said in a Facebook chat that tougher sanctions would make clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin “that there is a price to pay for this kind of behaviour.” 
 
 We should do more to ensure a thorough investigation that not only respects those who were murdered in the attack on the plane, but also tries to find answers to who is responsible,” Clinton wrote during the question-and-answer session on the social media site. 
 
 00.05 Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of the MH17 crisis. 
 
 More on the news that the MH17 black boxes have been handed over to Malaysian authorities. 
 
 A senior separatist leader, Aleksander Borodai, was the man, as ever, in charge in Donetsk. 
 
 “Here they are, the black boxes,” Borodai told a room packed with journalists at the headquarters of his self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic as an armed rebel placed the boxes on a desk. 
 
 Both sides then signed a document, which Borodai said was a protocol to finalise the procedure after lengthy talks with the Malaysians. 
 
 “I can see that the black boxes are intact, although a bit damaged. In good condition,” Colonel Mohamed Sakri of Malaysian National Security Council said in extending his thanks to “His Excellency Mr. Borodai” for passing on the recorders. 
 
 Borodai also said a train carrying the remains of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane catastrophe has reached Donetsk. It is on its way to Kharkiv, some 300km (186 miles) north-west. The Malaysian experts and a Dutch delegation also on site in Donetsk will travel along with it, he said. ||||| US criticises Kremlin's arming of rebels and Hillary Clinton says 'Putin has gone too far' after 298 die in missile strike 
 
 The US has pointedly criticised Russian arming of rebels in Ukraine as the world demanded answers over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by a suspected Russian-made missile, resulting in the death of all 298 people on board the civilian airliner. 
 
 The White House stopped short of directly blaming Russia for the plane’s destruction but linked its remarks on the disaster to the Kremlin’s support for separatists in Ukraine, urging Vladimir Putin’s government to stop inflaming the situation in the country and take "concrete steps" towards de-escalation. 
 
 
 
 The huge loss of life threatens to have wide-ranging and unpredictable consequences, coming just after the US imposed further sanctions on Russia for continuing to provide weapons to the rebels. 
 
 The former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, made some of the most potent remarks in a television interview, saying there were strong indications Russian-backed militia were to blame and action was needed to "put [Vladimir] Putin on notice that he has gone too far and we are not going to stand idly by". 
 
 
 
 Clinton called for the EU to increase sanctions on Russia, while the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott demanded that Russia explain the disaster as it “now seems certain it’s been brought down by a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile”. 
 
 The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said it was too soon to make a decision on tougher sanctions. "The events with the plane, as far as I remember, were not even 24 hours ago and at the moment we need to sort out an independent investigation." 
 
 
 
 There were 173 Dutch nationals on board the plane, along with 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, nine passengers believed to be from the UK, four each from Germany and Belgium, three from the Philippines, one Canadian and one from New Zealand. The nationalities of 20 passengers have not yet been verified. A group of international HIV/Aids experts flying to Melbourne were among those killed. 
 
 The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said: "We are working through passenger data, cross-checking it and referencing it to establish exactly the numbers and identities of those British nationals." 
 
 
 
 The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, said the news marked “a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year for Malaysia”, referring to the earlier disappearance without a trace of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. He said those responsible for tragedy the must be held responsible. 
 
 Flags were lowered to half-mast in the Netherlands and Australia. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Dutch flag at half-mast at Schiphol airport Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images 
 
 Kiev and Moscow have blamed each other for the disaster. 
 
 
 
 Putin ordered Russian military and civilian agencies to co-operate with any investigation but, according to a Kremlin statement, said the "state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy." 
 
 
 
 The Ukrainian foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, said on Friday there was no chance the missile was of Ukrainian military origin. He said the Ukrainian army did not have such missiles in the area, and said none had been seized by separatist fighters in recent weeks. 
 
 The jet was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday when it was blown apart and fell in a shower of fiery wreckage over the village of Grabovo, part of the area controlled by pro-Russia separatists. 
 
 The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Friday that separatists had agreed to provide assistance to those investigating the crash of the plane and would ensure safe access for international experts visiting the site. 
 
 Defence and security experts said the Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system, known to be in the hands of pro-Russia fighters in Ukraine, was most likely used. 
 
 
 
 The US vice-president, Joe Biden, said the plane appeared to have been "blown out of the sky", while the Ukrainian security services released an audio recording said to be rebel commanders discussing the fact that their forces were responsible with Russian officers. 
 
 The UN security council it is to meet on Friday as calls mount for an international response. “There is clearly a need for a full, transparent and international investigation,” said the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, sending his condolences to the victims’ families. 
 
 
 
 A Malaysian mother reacts after seeing her daughter's name on the list of passengers on board Malaysia Airlines MH17. Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters 
 
 In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai stressed that MH17 was following "the right route on the right path" amid a barrage of questions from local and foreign reporters as to why Malaysia Airlines would have chosen to fly over a war zone. Qantas, the Australian carrier, said it had been steering clear of the area by 400 nautical miles for several months. 
 
 "It is many years that we have taken the same route and many other countries take the same route," he said. He stressed that some 15 of 16 Asia-Pacific Airlines fly "this route over Ukraine" and added: "European airlines also use the same route, and traverse the same airspace. In the hours before the incident, a number of other passenger aircraft from different carriers used the same route." 
 
 He also said that there had been "no last-minute instructions" given to the pilots to change the route. 
 
 The European air traffic control body, Eurocontrol, said Ukrainian authorities had banned aircraft from flying at 32,000ft or below and the doomed aircraft had been cruising above that, at 33,000ft – however this apparently still left it within range of the sophisticated surface-to-air weaponry that pro-Russia forces have been using recently to target Ukrainian military aircraft. All civilian flights have now been barred from eastern Ukraine. 
 
 
 
 The field next to the tiny hamlet was a scene of charred earth and twisted metal as shocked local people milled around the scene. Body parts belonging to the 298 on board were strewn around. The body of what appeared to be a young woman had been flung about 500m from the centre of the crash. 
 
 
 
 US government officials confirmed to media outlets that a surface-to-air missile brought down the plane. US intelligence was reportedly still working to determine the exact location from which the missile was fired, and whether it was on the Russian or the Ukrainian side of the border. 
 
 
 
 Rebels in the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics have shot down several Ukrainian planes and helicopters in recent weeks. But they insisted they had no part in the downing of MH17, claiming instead that Ukrainian fire was responsible. 
 
 
 
 Ukraine's SBU security services released a recording, which could not immediately be verified, of what it said were rebel commanders saying they had shot down a plane and then discovering with horror it had been a civilian jet. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ukraine security services recording said to reveal pro-Russia separatists admitting they shot down plane. 
 
 On the ground in Grabovo a strong smell of aviation fuel and burnt rubber hung in the air as dozens of pro-Russian separatist fighters milled around the area in which workers from the emergency services were sifting through the wreckage. A dozen fire engines were on the scene. 
 
 
 
 One local resident, Alexander, had been working in a field a few hundred metres from the crash site and thought the aircraft was going to fall on top of him. Another farmer said he was on his tractor when he heard a loud bang. "Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two – there was thick black smoke," he said. 
 
 
 
 In a conflict that has not been short of dreadful twists, this was by far the most shocking and most gruesome to date. The 298 people on board MH17 had no connection to the fighting – their international flight was simply travelling through airspace above the battle zone. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Malaysia Airlines announces the nationalities of those on board flight MH17. 
 
 Throughout the Ukraine conflict the versions of violent incidents provided by Kiev and the Donetsk rebels have diverged wildly, with each side blaming the other for loss of life and the shelling of residential areas. 
 
 
 
 Now, with such a huge and unexpected loss of life, the stakes are immeasurably higher, and both sides again rushed to claim the other was at fault. 
 
 
 
 Those blaming pro-Russia rebels for the attack pointed to a post on a social media site attributed to a top rebel commander which claimed to have downed a Ukrainian transport plane around the same time as the first reports of MH17's disappearance surfaced. The post was later deleted. 
 
 
 
 The US and EU have heavily criticised Russia for providing the separatists in eastern Ukraine with logistical and military support, leading to a new set of White House sanctions against Russian companies, introduced on Wednesday, as rhetoric coming out of both Washington and Moscow has led to talk of a new cold war. Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Guardian that any allegations of Russian involvement in the MH17 crash were "stupidity". 
 
 
 
 He said the Kremlin would not make a further statement because "no one knows" who is responsible. 
 
 Asked about the possibility of further US sanctions, Peskov said he could not rule it out: "The United States has recently been conducting a very nonconstructive policy and their actions are very unpredictable," he said. 
 
 
 
 Putin, who on Thursday returned to Russia from a summit of the Brics nations in Brazil, informed Barack Obama about the incident. 
 
 
 
 "The Russian leader informed the US president of the report from air traffic controllers that the Malaysian plane had crashed on Ukrainian territory, which had arrived immediately before the phone call," said a statement released by the Kremlin. 
 
 
 
 According to the statement, the pair spent most of the conversation discussing the deterioration of US-Russian relations, and Putin expressed his "serious disappointment" over the latest round of US sanctions against Russian companies. 
 
 
 
 Later Putin chaired a meeting on the Russian economy which began with a minute's silence and laid the blame for the crash at Ukraine's door: "There is no doubt that the nation over whose airspace this happened bears responsibility for the terrible tragedy," he said. 
 
 
 
 David Cameron, the British prime minister, tweeted: "I'm shocked and saddened by the Malaysian air disaster. Officials from across Whitehall are meeting to establish the facts." 
 
 
 
 The crash came four months after another Malaysia Airlines flight, MH370, vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, two-thirds of them Chinese citizens. It has yet to be found despite a huge search. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ukrainian president says shooting down of plane is a warning for the world on Russian aggression. 
 
 Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military specialist at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, agreed that the plane would almost certainly have been shot with a Buk, a vehicle-mounted missile system first developed in the Soviet era. The Malaysian aircraft,was beyond the range of Manpads – shoulder-launched missiles. Kalashnikov-carrying Russian sympathisers in Ukraine would not have had the expertise to fire them and would have needed either specialists who had "volunteered" their services from Russia or locally recruited specialists, he said, noting that the rebels had been firing at Ukrainian aircraft over the last week. 
 
 
 
 The Associated Press said one of its journalists had seen a similar launcher near the town of Snizhne earlier on Thursday. 
 
 
 
 Russia's state-owned Channel One avoided speculation of who might have been behind the plane crash in its first bulletins on the subject, while the Kremlin-friendly Life News, whose reporters were first on the scene, said it was likely to have been brought down by Ukrainian fire, claiming that the rebels did not have any missile systems with the capacity to down a plane at that altitude. 
 
 
 
 However a report on the website of Russian state television from late June described how the rebels in Donetsk had taken control of a Ukrainian missile defence facility that was equipped with Buk systems. The report said that the rebels planned to "defend the sky over Donetsk" using the missiles. 
 
 
 
 On Thursday afternoon a social media site attributed to Igor Strelkov, a Russian citizen who has emerged as the commander of rebel forces in Donetsk, announced that the rebels had shot down an An-26 Ukrainian transport plane, and also that there was "information about a second plane". The post was later removed. 
 
 
 
 Audio was circulated on social media, apparently released by Ukrainian security services, purporting to be an intercepted conversation of pro-Russia rebels confirming they had shot down a civilian jet. 
 
 
 
 The conversation is apparently between a group leader and his superior and suggests that they initially thought they had brought down a military aircraft but later realised their error. 
 
 
 
 The group leader, "Demon", tells his boss: "A plane has just been shot down. [It was] 'Miner's' group. It crashed outside Enakievo. Our men went to search for and photograph it. It's smouldering." 
 
 After his men apparently inspect the crash site, Demon reports back. "Cossacks from the Chernunkhino checkpoint shot down the plane. The plane disintegrated in mid-air … they found the first body. It's a civilian." 
 
 
 
 He carries on: "I mean. It's definitely a civilian aircraft." 
 
 
 
 His superior, nicknamed "Greek", asks him: "Were there many people?" 
 
 
 
 Demon replies: "A fuckton. The debris rained right into the yards." 
 
 
 
 Greek asks: "What's the aircraft?" and is told: "I haven't figured it out yet. I haven't reached the main section. I only looked at where the bodies began to fall. There are remains of chair mounts, the chairs, the bodies." 
 
 
 
 Greek asks: "Any weapons there?" and Demon says: "None at all. Civilian things, medical stuff, towels, toilet paper." "Any documents?" asks Greek, and Demon, perhaps realising what has just happened, replies: "Yes, an Indonesian student from Thomson university [in the US]." 
 
 
 
 Additional reporting by Tania Branigan in Beijing, Ewen MacAskill in London, Paul Lewis in Washington and Warren Murray of Guardian Australia
– A grieving father who lost his daughter on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has written to Vladimir Putin, and he doesn't mince words. "Thank you very much Mister Putin, leaders of the separatists, or the Ukraine government for murdering my loved and only child, Elsemiek de Borst," writes Hans de Borst in a letter posted on Facebook and printed in a Dutch paper, reports People. His 17-year-old daughter planned to do her final exams next year, he writes, then go to a technical university and study engineering. "She was looking forward to it. She is suddenly no more." He adds: "Aforementioned misters, I hope you're proud of including her and her young life ... and you will be able to look at yourselves in the mirror tomorrow morning. Thanks again. Sincerely, Elsemiek's father, Hans de Borst from Monster, whose life is ruined." Worse, Elsemiek's mother was killed on the flight too; they were traveling to Malaysia for a holiday, the Telegraph reports.