Donetsk

Recovery of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 has started at the crash site in eastern Ukraine, after a long delay.

The human remains and aircraft debris is being recovered by the local rebel groups, as the Dutch officials agreed to take assistance from the Donetsk People’s Republic militia considering security concerns.

Flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, MH17 crashed in July killing all 298 people on-broad. At least 190 of the passengers were Dutch nationals.

The West has accused pro-Russian rebels of shooting the Boeing 777 aircraft down using a Russia-made missile, while Russia has blamed the Ukrainian Government for the incident.

Debris collected in trucks will be transported to the city of Kharkov and from there to the Netherlands.

The Dutch Safety Board said in a statement: "The Dutch Safety Board commissioned the recovery and transportation to the Netherlands of the wreckage as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash of flight MH17.

"It is expected that the recovery operation will take several days."

"It is expected that the recovery operation will take several days, depending on the safety conditions and other factors."

The board intends to reconstruct a section of the aircraft as part of the investigation into the crash.

Meanwhile, Russia state-owned TV channels have aired satellite images, which reportedly showed a Ukrainian fighter jet firing a missile at the aircraft.

However, experts have dismissed the images to be a fake.

The Telegraph has quoted the US Department of State as terming the Russian TV reports as yet another ‘preposterous’ attempt by Moscow to ‘obfuscate the truth and ignore ultimate responsibility for the tragic downing of MH17’.

Image: Debris of MH17 being collected from the crash site in Donetsk, Ukraine. Photo: courtesy of the Dutch Safety Board / Department of Defense.