Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said those who downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 must be brought to justice, as he made his first official visit to Malaysia on Thursday.

Poroshenko was officially welcomed by Indonesian Prime Minister Najib Razak at a welcoming ceremony in Putrajaya, just south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The two leaders engaged in a bilateral meeting discussing various issues, including the MH17 airplane tragedy, before giving a news conference in which both stressed the need to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people on 17 July 2014.

President Poroshenko is due to leave Malaysia on Friday for the next stage of his Asian trip, when he will leave for Jakarta, Indonesia.

Putrajaya - 4 August 2016

1. Various of Malaysian Honour Guard

2. Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko, and Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, listening to national athem

3. Poroshenko leaving platform

4. Media

5. Various of Poroshenko inspecting honour guard

6. Najib and Poroshenko arriving at news conference

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister:

"We are also committed to finding out the truth (of what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17), and to make sure that justice is done and seen to be done, and on this basis we are awaiting for the criminal investigation report that is expected to be tabled towards the end of this year."

8. Najib and Proroshenko at news conference

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Petro Poroshenko, Ukranian President:

"We confirm our common stance on need to complete investigation of the flight MH17. This tragedy, and I'm absolutely sure we engage all the possible means to bring the perpetrators to justice."

10. Various of Poroshenko and Najib at bilateral meeting

11. Various of Poroshenko greeting Malaysian officials

12. Ukrainian and Malaysian flags

13. Photo of handshake between Najib and Poroshenko

Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anifah Aman, left for Ukraine early on Monday, to discuss the issues surrounding the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with senior Ukrainian officials.

Aman, who was leading a government delegation left at 00:30 a.m. local time (1630 GMT on Sunday).

He is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss access to the crash site and the recovery of the bodies of the victims.

International monitors say armed rebels have limited their access to the crash site and Ukrainian officials said armed rebels took 192 bodies away from their workers by force Sunday.

Aman will head to Istanbul and transit to Kiev.

He refused to answer questions from the media but said he would update reporters after his discussions.

Flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, leaving 298 dead.

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

AP TELEVISION

1. Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anifah Aman, (centre in pink shirt) walking in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport

2. Close of Aman

3. Aman waving to media

4. Close of Aman UPSOUND (English) Anifah Aman, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs: (asked about the aim of his visit)

"I will tell you after my discussions, after my meetings."

5. Aman entering the VIP lounge at the Airport

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 2013623

Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners _ dressed in overalls and covered in soot _ spread out across sunflower fields and tiny Ukrainian villages Friday, searching through the wreckage of the Malaysian plane shot down as it flew miles above the country's battlefield.

The downing killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations. By midday, 181 bodies had been located, according to emergency workers at the sprawling crash site.

Separatist rebels who control the eastern area where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down Thursday said they had recovered most of its black boxes and were considering what to do with them. Their statement had profound implications for the integrity of the plane crash investigation.

U.S. intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile downed the plane, but could not say who fired it.

Ukraine has called for an international probe to determine who attacked the plane and insisted it was not its military.

An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday demanded an independent inquiry into the downing and called Russia's response to it "deeply, deeply unsatisfactory."

"The initial response of the Russian ambassador was to blame Ukraine for this and I have to say that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory," he said. "It's very important that we don't allow Russia to prevent an absolutely comprehensive investigation so that we can find out exactly what happened here."

"This is not an accident, it's a crime," he added.

The crash site was spread out over fields between two villages in eastern Ukraine _ Rozsypne and Hrabove _ and access to it remained difficult and dangerous. The road from Donetsk, the largest city in the region, to the crash site was marked by five rebel checkpoints Friday, with document checks at each.

Fighting apparently still continued nearby. In the distance, the thud of Grad missile launchers being fired could be heard Friday morning.

In the sunflower fields around Rozsypne, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, lines of men disappeared into the thick and tall growth Friday. One fainted after finding a body. Another body was covered in a coat.

In Hrabove, several miles away, huge numbers of simple sticks, some made from tree branches, were affixed with red or white rags to mark spots where body parts were found.

Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative Andriy Sybiga said 181 bodies had been found, citing local emergency workers at the site. He said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometers (170 miles) to the north, for identification.

Among the debris were watches and smashed mobile phones, charred boarding passes and passports. An "I Love Amsterdam" T-shirt and a guidebook to Bali hinted at holiday plans.

Large chunks of the Boeing 777 that bore the airline's red, white and blue markings lay strewn over one field. The cockpit and one turbine lay a kilometer (a half-mile) apart, and residents said the tail landed another 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

One rebel militiaman in Rozsypne told The Associated Press that the plane's fuselage showed signs of being struck by a projectile.

The area has seen heavy fighting between government troops and pro-Russia separatists, and rebels had bragged about shooting down two Ukrainian military jets in the region just a day earlier.

Ukraine accused the rebels of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane. The rebels denied it and accused government forces of the same; President Petro Poroshenko denied it as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the downing, saying it was responsible for the unrest in its Russian-speaking eastern regions _ but did not accuse Ukraine of shooting the plane down and not address the key question of whether Russia gave the rebels such a powerful missile. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of supporting the rebels, a charge that Moscow denies.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk described the downing Friday as an "international crime" whose perpetrators would have to be punished in an international tribunal.

"Yesterday's terrible tragedy will change our lives. The Russians have done it now," he was cited as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

An assistant to the insurgency's military commander, Igor Girkin, said Friday on condition of anonymity that eight out of the plane's 12 recording devices had been located at the crash site. He did not elaborate. Since airplanes normally have both a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, it was not exactly clear what devices he was referring to.

He said Girkin was still considering whether to give international crash investigators access to the sprawling crash site. Any investigators would need specific permission from the rebel leadership before they could safely film or take photos at the crash site, he said.

Kenneth Quinn of the Flight Safety Foundation said an international coalition of countries should lead the investigation. The Unites States has offered to help.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lay repeatedly insisted Friday that the airline's path was an internationally approved route and denied accusations that Malaysia Airlines was trying to save fuel and money by taking a more direct flight path across Ukraine.

"I want to stress that this route is an approved path that is used by many airlines including 15 Asia-Pacific airlines. We have not been informed that the path cannot be used," he said

Malaysia's prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down.

Aviation authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United States, had issued previous warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March. Within hours of the crash Thursday, several airlines announced they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace.

On Friday, Ukraine's state aviation service closed the airspace over two regions currently gripped by fighting _ Donetsk and Luhansk _ and Russian aviation regulators said Russian airlines have suspended all transit flights over Ukraine.

At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines updated its nationality count of passengers, saying the plane carried 173 Dutch, 24 Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one person each from Canada and New Zealand.

Passengers on the plane included a large contingent of world-renowned AIDS researchers and activists headed to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia. News of their deaths sparked an outpouring of grief across the global scientific community.

In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of victims were meeting with counselors at the international airport. A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to visit the family for the first time in five years.

"She called me just before she boarded the plane and said, `See you soon,"' Akmar said.

In the Netherlands, flags were flying at half-staff across the country as residents mourned the victims.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet). He said only that his information was based on "intelligence."

AP TELEVISION

Hrabove, Ukraine - 18 July, 2014

1. Various debris and personal items on ground, emergency workers and volunteers searching through sunflower fields.

An international delegation of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts was forced to abandon a trip to the Malaysia Airlines debris field on Monday due to heavy fighting in the area.

The convoy of international experts and OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) monitors was brought to a halt in Shakhtarsk, a town around 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the fields where the Boeing 777 was brought down.

Some locals fled the town in a panic, saying a house in their neighbourhood had been hit, as the investigators waited on the outskirts hoping to get to the crash site beyond.

Soon after, investigators they were told to turn back.

"We are sick and tired of being interrupted by gunfights despite the fact that we have agreed that there should be a ceasefire," Alexander Hug from the OSCE said after the team had returned to Donetsk.

Meanwhile in Kiev a Ukrainian security spokesman said on Monday that data from the MH17 flight data recorders shows it crashed due to a "massive, explosive loss of pressure" after it was hit by fragments he said came from a missile.

Andriy Lysenko went on to deny that the Ukrainian army was responsible for fighting near the debris field, saying it was observing an instruction from President Petro Poroshenko to avoid any military engagement in an area 40 kilometres (25 miles) around the crash site.

Lysenko blamed attacks on residential areas in eastern Ukraine on "terrorists" trying to convince the local residents that the Ukrainian army is firing on them.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down on 17 July as it flew from Amsterdam towards Kuala Lumpur.

All 298 people aboard died.

The US and Ukrainian governments say it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by armed pro-Russian separatists, probably by mistake.

AP TELEVISION

Donetsk

1. Self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk (PRD) armed security officer walking alongside OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) convoy vehicles before leaving for MH17 crash site

2. Man picking up backpack and flak vest

3. Personnel getting into OSCE car

4. OSCE convoy leaving for crash site

5. Convoy on the road

Shakhtarsk

6. Various of PRD armed security guarding OSCE monitors

7. Wide of building being hit by shells in the distance, PRD security in foreground, smoke billows in distance, AUDIO: Explosion

8. People running away, including Alla Vladimirovna, Shakhtarsk resident, with her mother

9. Tracking shot of two women running, crying UPSOUND (russian) Alla Vladimirovna: "Mom, hang in there.", Woman on left: "We have no choice."

10. Vladimirovna and others loading luggage into car boot, UPSOUND (Russian): "Take your passports, don't forget to take your passports."

11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alla Vladimirovna, Shakhtarsk resident:

"Shooting in the city started yesterday (Sunday) at 12:00 (0900 GMT). House number 23 in our neighbourhood was hit."

12. OSCE convoy en route back to Donetsk

Donetsk

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Hug, Deputy Chief Monitor of OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine:

"We returned premature(ly) from out trip to the site. We were stopped in the town of Shakhtarsk on the way to the crash site. We were stopped because there was gunfire and what we understand was artillery impacts nearby, very near."

14. OSCE personnel with PRD police car in background

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Hug, Deputy Chief Monitor of OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine:

"There a job to be done. It can only be done if these guns are down, that we have no risk on our way there. We are sick and tired of being interrupted by gunfights despite the fact that we have agreed that there should be a ceasefire. Thank you."

Kiev

16. Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council information centre spokesman Andriy Lysenko during news conference

17. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council information centre spokesman:

"The experts who are investigating the reasons behind the Boeing 777 crash (MH17) informed us that data from the recovered flight data recorders shows that the reason for the sudden falling and the crash was because of a massive, explosive loss of pressure after being punctured multiple times by shrapnel."

18. Cutaway of media

19. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council information centre spokesman:

"The Ukrainian army has come close to the area of the crash site but our armed forces are not conducting active military actions there. As is known, the President of Ukraine (Petro Poroshenko) gave an order to stop all military actions 40 kilometres around the crash site."

20. Close up map showing situation on Ukrainian-Russian border

21. Lysenko showing map to journalists

22. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council information centre spokesman:

"The cases when the residential areas and houses have been shot were conducted by terrorists. Their aim for doing this is to frighten the local residents and to encourage the residents to believe that the Ukrainian side is doing it (shooting of houses). But we have video and photo evidence of terrorist shots in the residential areas."

23. Wide of news conference

Both parties in the eastern Ukrainian conflict are observing a ceasefire around the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday, adding that there are "strong indications that the Russians are continuing to arm the rebels."

Rutte told a Dutch parliamentary hearing that Ukrainian army has promised to expand the ceasefire to a 40 kilometre (25 mile) area around the wreckage site, currently occupied by separatists.

"We are happy that they are there. We need them there to speak to and to help us, but only if they want to cooperate, not to fight us but to help us to clear the site," he said.

On Thursday, Rutte announced that the Netherlands is sending 40 unarmed military police to eastern Ukraine as part of a ramped-up effort to find the last victims of the downed MH17 flight.

Most of the 298 people aboard were Dutch citizens.

Both Rutte and US President Barack Obama are in agreement that Russia is still working to destabilise Ukraine and should therefore face more sanctions.

"One of the questions was how Russia can avoid the sanctions. That is very simple, they have to distance themselves from the separatists and to stop arming them. It is no more complicated than that," Rutte said on Friday.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Dutch parliamentary hearing

2. Close of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte

3. Wide of hearing

4. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister:

"At this moment both parties (Ukrainian armed forces and separatists) are not fighting. We are not sure if that means that there is a ceasefire and that has been the case since Monday 21st (July). The Ukrainian army is promising a ceasefire in a 40 kilometre (25 mile) area around the crash site, while 10 kilometres (6 miles) is agreed at this moment. The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is liaising with both parties."

5. Wide of hearing

6. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister:

"Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian President, said that there will be a 40 kilometre ceasefire around the crash site and the OSCE is applying pressure to keep that ceasefire up - they are very helpful in this. The separatists are in the ceasefire zone, and to put it more strongly, we are happy that they are there. We need them there to speak to and to help us, but only if they want to cooperate, not to fight us but to help us to clear the site."

7. Wide of hearing

8. SOUNDBITE (Dutch) Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister:

"There are strong indications that the Russians are continuing to arm the rebels. One of the questions was how Russia can avoid the sanctions. That is very simple, they have to distance themselves from the separatists and to stop arming them. It is no more complicated than that."

9. Wide of hearing

Ukraine's parliament on Thursday voted not to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Yatsenyuk said he was resigning last week after two parties supporting him left the coalition, and parliament balked at passing laws he said were essential to fund the war against pro-Russian separatists.

The vote keeps Ukraine on course for fulfilling its obligations under its bailout loans with the International Monetary Fund and ensures added funding for the military.

Yatsenyuk thanked the parliament and said his government "has not declared default and never will".

Olexander Turchynov, Parliamentary chairman, said another law was passed ratifying and agreement between Kiev and Canberra to send Australian experts to investigate the circumstances of the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane crash in eastern Ukraine.

The plane was shot down on July 17, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 43 Malaysians and 195 Dutch.

Some bodies have yet to be recovered at the crash site, which has been inaccessible to investigators for days due to fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russia separatists.

AP TELEVISION

1. Ukrainian lawmakers in parliament session

2. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian President:

"Today the Ukrainian parliament confirmed its readiness for teamwork (with the government). I'm confident and I call parliament to now use its vote to show trust in the government."

3. Lawmakers voting whether to accept Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's resignation

4. Screen showing vote results

5. Lawmakers in session

6. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian Prime Minister:

"Ukraine has not declared default and never will. Thank you for your work and hope to meet in Verkhovna Rada soon."

5. Lawmakers applauding

6. Yatsenyuk walking towards Parliament Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov and Poroshenko; shaking hands

7. Yatsenyuk shaking hands with other lawmaker

8. Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko talking

9. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Oleksandr Turchynov, Parliamentary chairman:

"Today we accepted a law ratifying the agreement between Ukraine and Australia about sending Australian experts to Ukraine for the investigation of the Malaysian Airlines plane crash."

10. Lawmakers leaving session

11. Exterior of Ukrainian parliament building

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Washington of welcoming actions that he says undermine the Minsk agreement with Ukraine.

Lavrov was speaking to reporters in Moscow after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Lavrov was referring to a telephone call between the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the U.S.Vice President Joe Biden, during which U.S.assistance in training Ukrainian forces was reportedly discussed.

Lavrov also spoke about the investigation of the downing of airliner MH17 over eastern Ukraine, claiming that some parties were not interested in establishing the truth.

MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russia rebels in July, killing all 298 people aboard, mostly Dutch citizens.

"If it is not going to be possible to prove their version of the truth, which they put forward only a few days after the catastrophe, then they want to drag out the investigation, or maybe even to completely put a stop to it."

Commenting on his talks with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Lavrov said that they discussed economic cooperation, various regional problems and fight against the Islamic State Group.

AP TELEVISION

Moscow, Russia - March 19, 2015

1. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arriving with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari

2. Various of media

3. Lavrov speaking

4. Al-Jaafari listening

5. Al-Jaafari speaking

6. Cameraman

7. Lavrov and Al-Jaafari arriving for the news conference

8. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister:

"We try to be sure and will continue trying to be sure that all the facts are studied and all the versions are considered. And we will be doing this in order not to make one of these versions win, but to establish the truth. This is the most important."

9. Conference

10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister:

"Unfortunately, there is an impression being created that some of our partners are interested in the opposite. If it is not going to be possible to prove their version of the truth, which they put forward only a few days after the catastrophe, then they want to drag out the investigation, or maybe even to completely put a stop to it."

11. Journalist asking question

12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: ++PARTLY OVERLAID BY CONFERENCE++

"If Washington welcomes actions which undermine the Minsk agreements then one can only come to the conclusion that Washington is inciting Kiev to opt for a military solution of the problem."

15. Lavrov and Al-Jaafari shake hands

16. Russian Foreign Ministry