Ukraine says Russia helping destroy crash evidence

Ukraine accused Russia on July 19 of assisting separatist rebels in destroying evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down with 298 people onboard.

The government in Kiev said militiamen have removed 38 bodies from the crash site and have taken them to the rebel-held city of Donetsk. It says the bodies were transported with the assistance of specialists with distinct Russian accents.
                   
The rebels are also "seeking large transports to carry away plane fragments to Russia," the Ukrainian government said in a statement.
                   
Ukraine also called on Moscow to insist that the pro-Russia rebels grant international experts the ability to conduct a thorough, impartial investigation into the downing of the plane - a demand that President Barack Obama also issued Friday from Washington.
                   
The plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with citizens from 13 nations was shot down Thursday afternoon in eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border in an area that has seen months of clashes between government troops and pro-Russia separatists.
                   
An international delegation visited the crash site Friday evening but was only allowed to view one small portion. While the delegation was leaving under orders from armed rebel overseers, two Ukrainian members lingered to look at a fragment of the plane, prompting a militiaman to fire a warning shot in the air with his Kalashnikov.
                   
Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, complained that what he termed "Russian proxies" in Ukraine had failed to give safe access to and tampered with...