SHAKHTARSK (Ukra­ine): Ukraine’s army on Monday seized control of part of the vast site where Malaysian airliner MH17 crashed, insurgents said, as the UN announced the downing of the plane could constitute a war crime.

After explosions and fighting blocked a new attempt by Dutch and Australian police to access the east Ukraine crash site, Kiev confirmed that its forces were engaged in fierce clashes with rebels nearby.

The Ukrainian military said its troops had battled th­eir way into a string of to­wns around the scene, inclu­ding Shakhtarsk, 10km away.

The unarmed international mission was forced to turn back for the second day running before reaching the site, where the remains of some of the 298 victims still lie more than 10 days after the disaster.

More than 1,100 people have been killed in the fighting engulfing east Ukraine over the past three months, the UN said, a toll that does not include the plane crash victims.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the “horrendous shooting down” of the passenger jet in what was then rebel-held territory on July 17, and demanded a “thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigation”.

“This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime,” she said.

The Red Cross has said Ukraine is now in civil war — a classification that would make parties in the conflict liable to prosecution for war crimes.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014