Clashes outside Donetsk, including fighting over the nearest town to the crash site, force Dutch military policemen to postpone much-delayed arrival at scene
Roland Oliphant, Donetsk
2:32PM BST 27 Jul 2014
The Telegraph
Dutch military policemen have been forced to postpone their arrival on the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 disaster after fierce fighting between Ukrainian and rebel forces broke out near the crash site on Sunday.
Clashes erupted around Torez, 40 miles east of Donetsk and the nearest town to the crash site, on Sunday afternoon as government forces pressed on with an offensive designed to encircle Donetsk.
Ukrainian officials, OSCE officials and separatists discuss the situation (AP)
"There is fighting going on. We can't take the risk," said the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE observer mission.
"The security situation on the way to the site and on the site itself is unacceptable for our unarmed observer mission," he added.
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RBTH The unarmed policemen joined small teams of Australian and Dutch investigators already in Donetsk on Sunday morning.
Najob Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, said on Sunday that he had agreed with Alexander Borodai, the key separatist leader in the area, to allow international police access.
Tony Abbot, the Australian prime minister, said Australian policemen should also be deployed shortly.
The police were due to travel to the crash site to "provide protection" for crash investigators, but heavy fighting – which erupted despite a truce that is meant to hold in the immediate vicinity of the crash – made their visit impossible.
Nervous rebel fighters were said to have turned back journalists headed toward the crash site on Sunday as skirmishes and shelling were reported near the main crash site at the hamlet of Grabovo.
The news came as the Ukrainian government continued an offensive aimed at encircling and retaking the regional capital Donetsk, which has been in rebel hands since April.
Twitter users said government tanks had already forced their way into Torez, previously in the heart of rebel-controlled territory, by early afternoon.
The reports could not immediately be verified.
Shelling continued in northern Donetsk, while fighting was also reported in Horlivka, the rebel stronghold town to the north west of Donetsk.
Horlivka is under the control of Igor "Bes" Bezler, a notorious commander who even other rebel leaders have described as a loose cannon. Mr Bezler, whose nom de guerre means "demon" or "devil", has been implicated in the MH17 crash.
Intercepted phone calls released by the Ukrainian Security Service appear to feature Mr Bezler being informed of the crash which turned out to be MH17.
Fighting has also been reported in the strategic rail and road junction of Debaltsevo.
Twenty to 30 civilians had been killed in intense rocket and mortar fire on the outskirts of the town by early afternoon, Ukrainian media reported.
Human Rights Watch has criticised both sides of the conflict for causing civilian casualties, warning that Ukrainian and rebel forces may both be guilty of war crimes for such shelling.
Ukrainian officials have denied targeting civilian areas, and even suggested that the repeated shelling of some suburbs of Donetsk in the past week was the work of rebels flying Ukrainian colours.
That seems unlikely.
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