Fighting near the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight has left Dutch and Australian police unable to reach the scene.
The team of police and forensic experts were forced to stop in a town around 20 miles from the crash site, according to the Guardian.
Their role is to secure the rebel-controlled area so that investigations can begin and any remaining bodies can be recovered.
Meanwhile security officials in Ukraine claim the downed Malaysia Airlines plane suffered an explosive loss of pressure after it was punctured by shrapnel from a missile.
The BBC reports that Ukraine obtained this information from the aircraft’s data recorders, currently being analysed by British experts.
Ukraine’s security spokesman Andrei Lysenko told reporters that the plane suffered “massive explosive decompression” after it was hit by fragments that he said came from a missile.