BERLIN, July 30 (RIA Novosti) – Berlin is calling on Kiev authorities and eastern Ukrainian militia forces to provide secure access to the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash site, German Deputy Government Spokesperson Christiane Wirtz said Wednesday.
The Cabinet of Germany urged both sides of the Ukraine conflict to agree on a local ceasefire and “expects the authorities in Kiev to refrain from attacks in the region,” Wirtz said.
“As before, the reality is that investigators have no free access to the [MH17] crash site,” the spokesperson stressed.
Earlier in the day, a group of independent experts from Australia and the Netherlands for the fourth time failed to reach the MH17 crash site due to heavy fighting between the militia and the Ukrainian Army.
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed concern over the ongoing fighting around the crash site, saying “it’s not just the separatists, it’s the Ukrainian government as well.”
A total of 298 people, including 193 Dutch citizens and 27 Australians, died on July 17 as a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donetsk Region of Ukraine. The cause of the catastrophe remains unclear.
