BBC NEWS
International experts have reached the site of the flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine after the government halted military operations for a day.
A convoy of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors arrived along with four Australian and Dutch police experts.
Fighting between government and rebel forces had prevented them getting there for nearly a week.
Explosions were reportedly heard near the site after their arrival.
A journalist for AFP news agency heard several "powerful" blasts and saw a plume of smoke less than 10km (six miles) from the crash site.
Russian aviation experts are also in Ukraine, hoping to visit the site.
Malaysian PM Najib Razak calls for "justice for the victims" of the MH17 crash
The Malaysia Airlines plane crashed on 17 July in eastern Ukraine, with the deaths of all 298 people on board.
The rebels deny that they shot it down with a missile by mistake.
Officials in Russia, which has been accused by the US and others of supplying the rebels with advanced weaponry, suggest that Ukraine's own armed forces downed the jet - a charge rejected by Kiev.
A team of 68 Malaysian police has arrived in Kiev to help with the investigation, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on a visit to the Netherlands to meet his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte. The Netherlands lost 193 of its citizens in the crash while Malaysia lost 43.
Russia has come under increased pressure to end its support for the rebels despite having continually denied claims that it is arming and training them.
In other developments
- Ukraine's parliament backed the potential deployment of up to 950 Dutch and Australian "armed personnel" at the crash site
- The parliament also rejected the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk after the recent collapse of his coalition
- A new round of EU sanctions was revealed on Thursday following similar action by the US. Billionaire tycoon Arkady Rotenberg, a former judo sparring partner of President Vladimir Putin, is among those affected by EU travel bans and asset freezes
- Separatist rebels are reportedly due to meet a Ukrainian delegation on Friday in Minsk, as Belarus hosts talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE
OSCE monitors on the ground said in a tweet that they had reached the crash site after using a new access route.
Getting out of their cars, they stopped for a minute's silence in remembrance of those killed almost two weeks ago to the hour.
The police and forensic investigators from the Netherlands and Australia are expected to initially focus their efforts on retrieving bodies still missing and collecting victims' belongings. Australia lost 27 of its citizens in the crash.
The area appears to be still under the control of rebel fighters, an AP news agency journalist at the scene said.
A Russian delegation led by Oleg Storchevoy, deputy head of Russia's federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia, arrived in Kiev earlier.
"Russian experts intend to meet the head of the investigative commission... and hand over all the materials that the chairman of the commission had previously asked for," Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
"Today, the Russian representatives will also try to reach the crash area of the Boeing 777 and together with specialists from the international investigative commission examine the state of parts of the aircraft at the site."
There was no comment on the Russians' involvement from Ukrainian and Dutch officials approached by AP.
The press service for Ukraine's "anti-terrorist operation" said troops would refrain from combat operations in the Donetsk region, except in self-defence, in order to allow investigators to do their work on Thursday.
Well over 1,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since the new Ukrainian government sent troops into east Ukraine in mid-April to quell the insurgency.
The rebels have been forced back towards their strongholds in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, which have come under heavy bombardment.
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