Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 Crash Site Surrounded By Mines, Ukrainian Officials Claim

A woman walks out of a damaged block of flats carrying her belongings following what locals say was recent shelling by Ukrainian forces in central Donetsk. (Photo: Reuters/Sergei Karphuken)

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that pro-Russia rebel forces have reportedly placed mines at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, therefore making it impossible for investigators from the Netherlands to reach the site.

Ukraine's government security spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters Wednesday that investigators were turned away from visiting the crash site after learning that rebels had mined the area around where the plane went down on July 17.

Pro-Russia separatists "have mined the approaches to this area," Lysenko told the Associated Press, adding "this makes the work of the international experts impossible."

Investigators from the Netherlands have expressed their frustration at their inability to visit the crash site, arguing that there are personal items and human remains that grow more vulnerable to the elements as time goes by. This is the fourth day foreign investigators have been turned away from the crash site and forced to return to the city of Donetsk.

The United Nations announced earlier this week that it would be opening an investigation into a possible war crime after the downing of MH17. The plane crashed after it was hit by shrapnel from a Buk missile, designed to explode mid-air and down any nearby aircraft. The Ukrainian government and rebel forces have accused each other of downing MH17, but some critics suggest the rocket came from Russia, a country that has been suspected of aiding the separatists but has denied any involvement.

"This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime," Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement earlier this week.