Malaysian Flight MH17 Crash: Rebels Hand Over Black Boxes

Rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine have handed over the black boxes from flight MH17 to Malaysian experts.

As an armed rebel placed the boxes on a desk, Aleksander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, told a packed room at the separatists' headquarters: "Here they are, the black boxes."

Both sides then signed a document, which the rebel leader said was to finalise the handover.

The two flight data recorders from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane are "in good condition", according to Malaysian Colonel Mohamed Sakri, who received them from Mr Borodai.

"I can see that the black boxes are intact, although a bit damaged," he said, extending his thanks to "His Excellency Mr Borodai" for passing them on.

Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, has claimed pro-Russian rebels have tampered with the black boxes.

A ceasefire within a six-mile (10km) radius of the crash site will be put in place so international investigators can access the area where the jet was shot down last week with 298 people on board.

It comes after fighting between separatists and pro-Ukrainian groups flared in Donetsk, some 40 miles (60km) from the crash site.

Health officials said four people were killed in Monday's clashes, while rebel military commander Igor Strelkov said up to 12 of his men died in the fighting.

Russia has called for the investigation into the shooting down of the plane to be led by the "international community" and not Ukraine, after yet more accusations weretraded between Moscow and Kiev over who is to blame.

Moscow's ambassador to Malaysia, Lyudmila Vorobyeva, told a news conference the probe should be led by the United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organisation.

"The reason for that is the rebels, as we understand, do not trust the government of Kiev," said Ms Vorobyeva.

"That's why they were reluctant to hand over anything (including) the black boxes to the Ukrainian side because they are afraid the evidence would be tampered with."

She added that audio recordings of rebels admitting shooting down the plane are "fake" and a "compilation of different conversations".

As the diplomatic fallout from the disaster continues, EU foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday to discuss imposing new sanctions on Russia.

On Monday, a train carrying the remains of 282 of the victims left the station where it was being guarded by armed separatists.

The refrigerated wagons were filmed leaving Torez and will be taken to the city of Kharkiv, some 186 miles (300km) northwest.

There they will be handed over to Dutch officials before being flown to the Netherlands.