Dutch receive more crash remains

Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s premier, to exit, citing parliament strife

People look at pictures of the victims of the Malaysian Airlines crash in a central square in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 24, 2014. Two more military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday, while Australian and Dutch diplomats joined to promote a plan for a U.N. team to secure the crash site which has been controlled by pro-Russian rebels. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)
People look at pictures of the victims of the Malaysian Airlines crash in a central square in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 24, 2014. Two more military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday, while Australian and Dutch diplomats joined to promote a plan for a U.N. team to secure the crash site which has been controlled by pro-Russian rebels. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Two more military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster arrived Thursday in the Netherlands, while Australian and Dutch diplomats joined to promote a plan for a United Nations team to secure the crash site.

The recovery effort at the site in eastern Ukraine has been hindered by armed pro-Russia separatists who control the area.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation Thursday, opening the way for new elections.

All 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 — most of them Dutch citizens — were killed when the plane was shot down July 17. U.S. officials say the Boeing 777 probably was shot down by a missile from territory held by the rebels, likely by accident.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who said he fears some remains will never be recovered unless security is tightened, has proposed a multinational force mounted by countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia, which lost citizens in the disaster. Abbott said Thursday that he had dispatched 50 police officers to London to be ready to join any organization that may result.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop traveled with her Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans to Kiev to seek an agreement with the Ukraine government to allow international police to secure the wreckage, Abbott said.

Later Thursday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he’s sending 40 unarmed police to eastern Ukraine, not as security but as “extra hands and eyes to look for remaining remains and personal belongings” of victims.

International experts found more remains still at the crash site both Wednesday and Thursday, said Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Organization observers, sent to monitor the conflict, escorted a delegation from Australia to examine the wreckage Thursday for the first time. More Australian specialists are expected to join them today, Bociurkiw said.

On Monday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution proposed by Australia demanding that rebels cooperate with an independent investigation and allow all remaining bodies to be recovered.

The first remains arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday and were met by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and hundreds of relatives.

The planes Thursday took 74 more coffins back to the Netherlands, government spokesman Lodewijk Hekking said.

Patricia Zorko, head of the National Police Unit that includes the Dutch national forensic team, said some 200 experts, including 80 from overseas, were working at a military barracks on the outskirts of the central city of Hilversum to identify the dead, based on DNA testing, dental records and fingerprints.

Around the world some 1,000 people are involved in the process, which also includes gathering information from next of kin.

Zorko warned that the process of identification could be drawn out, taking “weeks and maybe even months.”

Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday that Russia was responsible for “creating the conditions” that led to the crash but offered no evidence of direct Russian government involvement.

Russia on Thursday brushed off the accusations. Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said that if the U.S. officials had the proof the plane was shot down by a missile launched from the rebel-held territory, “how come they have not been made public?”

Pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian government troops have been fighting for more than three months, leaving at least 400 dead and displacing tens of thousands.

In Brussels, ambassadors from the 28 European Union nations agreed Thursday to add more names to the list of Russians and pro-Russia Ukrainians subject to EU-wide asset freezes and travel bans for allegedly acting against Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Seventy-two people are already covered by the measures.

EU officials said the new names would be made public today, and the fresh sanctions could for the first time result in Russian companies being blacklisted from doing business in the EU.

In Ukraine on Thursday, Yatsenyuk announced his resignation from the dais of the parliament after two parties said they would pull out of the governing coalition.

Yatsenyuk, a supporter of closer ties with Europe and a key participant in the protests that toppled pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych in February, said the parliament could no longer do its work and pass necessary laws.

President Petro Poroshenko, elected to replace Yanukovych on May 25, earlier praised the withdrawal of the two parties.

He said that “all opinion polls, and direct conversations with people, show that society wants a complete rebooting of the government.”

The president can now dismiss the parliament for new elections if no new government is formed in 30 days.

Information for this article was contributed by Nataliya Vasilyeva, Lucian Kim, Mike Corder, David McHugh and Rod McGurk of The Associated Press.

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