good evening. thanks very much for joining us and watching our special extended version of "360." looking for answers to the downing of flight 17. we begin not there but a different place, a different place from the fields where the 298 people came to rest, a different place from where they lay seemingly forever surrounded by armed thugs bordering an obscenity, a different war that created conditions in which 298 men, women and children could be blown from the sky. today, in quiet dignity, the coffins baring remains of the 298 people arrived in the netherlands. they arrived to a nation in mourning, the country stunned by the horror of the loss. 40 coffins carrying the first

victims of flight 17. the king and queen of the f neither lands were there to greet them. a day of mourning in the netherlands, a day of grief and sorry around the world. today, finally, there was dignity. ♪ ♪ a bugle's call followed by a moment of silence.

then one by one, each wooden coffin loaded into waiting hearses. it was a 60-mile journey to the town, the first leg of a long journey home. tens of thousands lined the route on the highways cars stopped to watch, and at overpasses, scattered applause as the solum procession passed underneath. [ applause ] ♪ ♪ >> in churches throughout the netherlands, prayers were said. >> translator: please be with them and stay with them, god. give them lights in the darkness. >> music helped mourners begin to heal.

♪ ♪ ♪ making flowers out of rain ♪ while darkness takes the afternoon ♪ ♪ i know that they won't last forever ♪ ♪ but real ones fade away too soon ♪ ♪ i still cry sometimes when ♪ i still cry sometimes when i

feel you ♪ >> the coffins arrived nearly four hours after landing to roses tossed gently towards the hearses. ♪ ♪ >> this was just the beginning, the beginning of the identification process, the beginning of more arrivals to come. an extraordinary thing to witness. according to nick paton walsh, authority expect 74 coffins to depart tomorrow. joining us is the dutch paper "nrc" aviation correspondent richard quest. michelle, let me start with you. you know people on board and as a citizen of the netherlands, what was it like for you? >> i've never seen my people as

much in shock as today. i think this is when the airplane was shot down, it was the day since the second world war, not as many people died in one day because of an act of war as last thursday. and for me, today, my neighbor died, the famous hiv researcher and he was an acquaintance of mine and even though they weren't in the coffins, i was very close to them and sitting at the office of my newspaper this afternoon and watched it on television when the two airplanes arrived at the airport and i really was very moved and i've seen people in tears, many of my colleagues, as you know, journalist are often very noise see people, they were all so quiet. they were all probably in tears or very emotional.

>> richard quest and i had a privilege of anchoring our coverage for about two hours this afternoon as the hearses made the procession and it was just extraordinary, richard talked about a sense of community that, you know, the people who were lining the roads, the family members who were there, they didn't know who was in those coffins, but it didn't -- it almost didn't h matter. there was a sense of being together and i certainly have a sense it goes beyond just the netherlands, the sense of community really was something today that all those watching around the world today truly, truly felt and you must feel that very strongly there right now. >> it's -- holland used to be a very church going country 50 years ago and today it was like the times of the past returned. people were united.

they were standing on the roads throwing flowers to the cars with the coffins and it was like in a movie. actually, i couldn't see my eyes when i saw all those people being united everywhere and actually since last thursday, people everywhere like that. >> richard, again, i mean, you and i watched this along with the world for much of this afternoon and i keep coming back to the word you used, community and just the enormity of the moment. >> moment. >> as i said, at the time, today we were all dutch. we were all german. we were all new zealand, canada, british, german, malaysians, australians, south africans, indonesians and today we were all all those countries. our individual national

identities were together as we joined something far greater and what that greatness was today was the reclaiming of decency and the reclaiming of principle and value because no matter how heinous the act that had taken place that caused these people to parish or how they had been treated, body bags on trains across central, eastern europe, today we were able to say no, this is what we stand for. so at one point, i don't know if you feel the same way, but at one point, it was the most difficult of assignments to talk through but frankly, one of the easiest because you look at it and it wrote and spoke itself. >> and also, one of the things i tweeted out this afternoon was thank god for the netherlands, the way you came together and the way your country showed such dignity and such grace and particularly it shines so

brightly, opposed to the horror that we have witnessed, not just in the about of the shooting down of this plane, but the horror of the day after day of the way the victims of this crash have been treated, really up until today, up until this moment. >> and you're completely right. you've seen the speech of foreign minister gave and the security counsel and it was an emotional speech. it was about decency, about respect, about humanity and something that does exist in eastern ukraine at a time being. >> and it one of the things we replayed in our coverage, richard, and i honestly can't even repeat what the foreign minister said, i can't get through it because i find it so moving to this moment. >> well, you'll forgive me if i do remind you what he said. after the attack happened, let

us try and imagine what those people were going through, did they lock hands for that last moment? there a silent glance between them as they had a silent good-bye? did they hold their children more closely as they realized the end might be close? you can't help but recognize that this is the call. politicians are legislated for a purpose. t tim -- timmerman said we are elected and this is our call. >> this is just the beginning. there are, i believe, two more planes said to be arriving tomorrow. this is just the beginning of this process that will take weeks, if not months, in some cases. do you know what happens tomorrow? is tomorrow -- tomorrow is not a national day of mourning, it

not, correct? >> tomorrow two other planes will land. i think one of them will take 75 bodies to holland and there will be a shawl ceremony, but it will be the same ceremony as there has been today at airport. there will be present one cabinet minister, there will be present several officials from the government, of course, the king and queen will be there and the prime minister, also, but the whole sceremony with this military and police will be the same as today and they will also drive in a convey to this military base where they are going to proceed with the identification of the bodies. >> unless anybody thinks that this is in any shape of form moving to a closure or conclusion, 74 coffins will be

returned to the netherlands. 40 came back today but they are coffins. we do not know how many victims are inside. it's gruesome. it's distasteful. it has to be faced. there may still be -- there probably are still recoveries to be made. >> we know that for a fact. one of the osc monitors today in an interview i saw said he was out at one of the sites and saw people still out there. we don't know how many, and again, there is still a lot to learn. we're going to play some of that -- what the foreign minister said later on in the broadcast because i want people to hear what your foreign minister said at the united nations. it was just such a powerful statement of humanity in the face of all this. michelle, appreciate you being on this broadcast and again, my thanks and i think the thanks of many people for the way your

country and countrymen have handled this. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> richard will stay with us for a moment. i want to go to ukraine where ivan watson spent the day at amazingly the all but abandoned crash site or one of them. ivan, you were there, what was it like today? >> reporter: as you said, it felt very much abandoned. i was struck on a day when the dutch were coming out and showing such grace after the entire world was calling for free access to the crash site, the united nations security counsel calling for it, the site itself had no security whatsoever. i did not see investigators working through the ruins. in fact, much of the debris clearly has been removed in some of the areas, just within the last 48 hours. we know the site has been

contaminated again and again and again over the last six days. again, no protection whatsoever, just wreckage and burned grass in these farm fields of eastern ukraine. the only people at sunset kind of remotely keeping on eye on the area were villagers living nearby who seemed to have gone back to farming. so yes, the place where these people died last thursday, very much feeling abandoned and ignored. >> this is extraordinary to hear this and points to the volume and importance of going and reporting and going to the front lines as nobody does better than iran watson. but ivan, what is to be done? if you can get out of the search area, why are there not international bodies out there or international bodies is the wrong word, any international

monitors or investigators or people to search for the dead, the victims. there may be 98 to 100 victims laying at various sites throughout that crash zone. what is -- where are they? >> i don't have an easy answer for that, anderson. the international monitors from the osce are making daily visits out there. we know there have been ukrainian government, aviation experts visiting, even though the separatists are at war with the ukrainian government and don't recognize it. we know that there have been some forensic experts, members of the malaysia delegation but the fact is, is that you have the giant tail of this doomed plane just laying in a farm field and other scraps of this

plane just kind of daunting the surrounding farm fields. if there is any consolation, this corner of ukraine is beautiful. it is pastoral. we do not see what we heard is the world's biggest criminal investigation crime scene. >> richard quest, i'm not even talking about investigating the crime scene, i'm not even talking about looking through wreckage, i'm talking about 98 souls, 100 souls, as many as somebody making an effort to bring them home. >> it's inconceivable. it's inconceivable but i'm guessing and ivan can confirm the issue is safety. the issue is a war that

continues in the region. >> but ivan, you're saying, i mean, osc monitors can go to this site and are now getting access from what i've been told, they are not obviously trained or even equipped with body bags, with anything to pick up the dead, but getting some people out there to bring back the remains, to -- with body bags, that is not that complicated an under taking if osc monitors could get there, you would think teams of forensic investigators could get out there to at least bring men, women, children, infants home. >> again, i don't have an easy answer for this. i do have to stress this crash site that's been the focus, yes,

you can travel freely to it but other parts of the region are not easy to move around. anderson, today, just about a half hour's drive away from where the remains of flight mh-17 are laying in the farm fields, the separatists shot down two ukrainian war planes, fighter jets. they shot them down they say with shoulder mounted surface to air missiles. so if you can imagine this place where this commercial airliner with innocent victims were killed overhead, we were hearing throughout the day the roar of war planes very high overhead and other planes were shot down six days later. the ukrainian government said it was an altitude of 5,000 meters and the separatists do block access to other areas in the region because they say of on going battles. the region there is an active war zone, and perhaps that's a

reason why bigger teams haven't come to the scene there. >> ivan watson, appreciate the reporting. >> we'll talk more tonight and in the days ahead about what the pieces of the plane themselves have to say. next, the people that lost loved ones are saying, including the words of grandmother who lost her two precious grandsons. you manage to see some hope, some hope today through her tears. our new flatbread sandwiches may be flat... the flavors, are anything but. so whether it's taste inspired by the freshness of the mediterranean... or the smoky spice of the southwest... or bold, adventurous thai flavors... ...you always get flavor that's anything but flat. and always with chicken raised without antibiotics. new flatbread sandwiches from panera... ... each 360 calories or less. try one today.

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as hard as it is to consider is what the families are going is through, it's hard to talk about and honor, inspiration to speak with some of them. we want to continue to honor them by showing you their names at the bottom of the screen tonight. we had the privilege and awe struck at the generosity and love that survives inside people who have been through so much. chris cuomo discovered this morning. >> reporter: i'm standing with a family. his two nephews were lost. this is their mother, this is

their grandmother. how difficult has this been to lose the little ones? to lose the one you care about the most and in a way where they were not only far away but everything that followed afterwards, how have you managed to stay together, the family? >> i don't know honestly, chris. it's adrenaline. we're in a haze. we're so numb, so sad. we keep thinking about the most important thing, how much did they suffer and hope and pray it didn't. >> i'm sorry to meet you this way, thank you so much. >> appreciate it. >> our heart goes out to you, i'm so sorry for what you've lost and yasmine. >> thank you and thanks cnn to show the world what never should have been shown. it's not just us, it is people

crying every minute for the same reason we are crying. i don't know where humanity is going but when i see you and even and the flowers, there is always hope, and we have to move on, i don't know how but we have to because they were incredible kids. i just told you, they were just incredible. we never knew how many lives they touched until now. >> as we mentioned earlier, 74 coffins will be returning from ukraine tomorrow in audition to the 40 today. the remaining being examined and identified at a dutch military base in audition to being our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta received training in forensic medicine. he joins us from the netherlands. sanjay, how difficult is this identification process? obviously, there is a whole range of what authorities there are going to have to deal with right now.

>> yeah, there is no question. lots of different groups of people involved. this isn't standard sort of autopsy. in someways, when you do an autopsy, there is three things to establish, which is cause of death, the manner of death and name, identification of the person. here you have a pretty good idea of the cause and manner of death. so this is really about identification. we know that there were 40 coffins brought, for example, here to the netherlands, but we don't know what that represents, how many souls, how many different people that could be more than 40, less than 40. so just the basics like that need to be established. but i'll tell you in someways, it's surprisingly simple. there is basic things, anderson, you want to look at things like clothing, identifying body marks, piercings, tattoos try to try and make identifications. dental records become increasingly important because we heard so much about the idea the remains, there may have been contamination of the sight that could interfere with things like

dna analysis, fingerprint analysis, dental records, a simple thing, something that's been a gold standard will be much more likely used here, anderson. >> it's difficult to hear and talk about this but family members have already been briefed on all of this by dutch officials. i spoke to one family member a man who lost two of his nephews on board the flight who said dutch officials were very blunt with them and he actually appreciated that, that they went through in great detail how the identification process would take place. they already took dna samples. is there a sense how long it may take for the identification process to be complete? certainly, on those people who have actually been recovered because of course, there are still others who are still out in eastern ukraine. >> right. yeah, well, you know, on the first point, the situation just

imagine these families getting calls, they want to make sure the families get one call, that the investigators don't have to go back to the house over and over again, so they do need to be blunt in terms of trying to obtain sort of identifying features of the person but also dental records, possibly dna, even if they can't find dna of the individual in question, they can use certain programs to take dna from relatives and make a match that way. taking that into account. it's hard to say how long that will take. they have large temporary morgues to accomplish this work. you have some 75 investigator tors on the ground doing this sort of thing. the tripoli plane crash in 2010, they took about 30 days to get back positive identifications. so it's a little open question. >> sanjay, good to have you there, thanks. coming up, the latest on the evidence u.s. officials are assembling including intelligence on two ukrainian war planes shot down today. welcome back.

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welcome back. so much is going on in the world and an appearance on jimmy kip kimmel live is niexed.

joining me now is a former aid to president george w bush and presidential historian douglas brinkly. is this any different than the criticism george w bush faced out of the crawford ranch? is this the same? >> similar but people need to leave the president alone on this one. i mean, after all, abraham lincoln ran and people have to do politics while you're president and we beat up jimmy carter for his rose garden strategy being hold up in dc. i think the president is smart not to be an jimmy kimmel, continue some fundraising but keep an eye when he needs to get back to the white house quickly. >> in terms of optics, people need to feel their leader is leading. is the president dropping the ball as far as foreign policies are concerned? >> it is kind of unseemingly the president is doing so much

fundraising but i agree with doug that actually politics goes on even among crisis. i would mind less the president is making fund raising stops if he was doing a better job of managing crisis. >> to that point in the new york times you were quoted saying you think president obama has an add hawk foreign policy. what do you mean? >> the choices he makes in one conflict will have nofe effect other people's choices elsewhere, that's clearly not true. the second is that the president's vision of the international order, in fact, he said in los angeles today or yesterday that the old order isn't holding, but the new -- but we're not where we need to be in terms of creating the new order. and that's quite right, the new order that he wants to emerge -- a new order is emerging, it's not the one the president wants. it's one where the russians behave in ways that alarm

europeans. we're stepping back expecting others will step forward and make the same choices we would and mostly they will not do that. >> doug, you certainly don't agree with that. do you think conducting foreign policy has changed over the years, that this idea of kind of a one size fits all doctrine makes sense? >> yeah, i don't think the president can do a doctrine right now. he's done a number of those. he gave a big speech at west point not long ago. john kerry is burning himself out, trying to do diplomacy. what can criticize kerry with israel and palestine? he's over this working on that crisis. i do think, though, that the president might have to take ex give an address to the american public that peter baker article points out, seven or eight things unraveling and i think when this perhaps maybe monday the president is going to need to do a prime time address on

networks and talk about particularly putin and russia and what's going on. meanwhile, we need a seize fire. >> good to have you on. coming up next, the battle and the banning flights into tel aviv. yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business.

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day two of the faa ban of airliners flying to and from tel aviv. it runs until tomorrow afternoon. it was put in place after a rocket hit about a mile from the airport. a hamas spokesperson calls the quote a great victory for resistance. the airport is safe and former

new york mayor michael bloomberg agrees. he flew to tel aviv and spoke to wolf blitzer with the mayor of that city. >> you cannot shut down everything just because one terrorist someplace on the other side of the world says i'm going to be a threat. >> folks will say you're a pilot, we know you're a pilot. >> yeah. >> but these are experts. are you suggesting the faa is being poll lit sized? >> i have no idea. i didn't write the statement. i don't know what they said. you can't put words in my mouth. i'm telling you what i think about the faa. they are well-meaning. it's a great organization. they make airlines and airports safe in america, but not as safe as nlr and the fact that one rocket falls far away from this airport, a mile away, doesn't mean you should shut down air traffic into a country and paralyze the country. >> well, wolf joins us tonight

from israel and ben wedeman is in gaza. >> they see the ban as a victory for hamas, yes? >> they do. they think it's a major victory. all of the u.s. carriers, most of the european carriers, several asian carriers stopped flying in and out of israel following the faa's initial 24-hour suspension followed by a second. they see it as a clear victory for hamas and hamas sees it as a clear victory because this is painful, damaging to israel's economy. tourism is so important, the airport is the gateway to the outside world and if it's going to remain shut to foreign carriers, that will be a severe blow to israel. >> any movement on a squeeze fi -- seize fire? >> you hear certain positive statements from the palestinian

authorities, john kerry says he's making some progress. israelis don't see a lot of progress. they would like to see a seize fire, hamas stops firing rockets and missiles, israel will end the campaign there and start dealing with a lot of the other issues so problematic. hamas wants to deal with issues, apparently right now before there is a formal seize fire and i think that's the block. >> ben, what's the latest in gaza tonight? >> anderson, it's been another bloody dayme. the death toll reaching almost 700. what we saw in three locations in the gaza strip is there was a brief -- it wasn't even a seize fire. the red cross coordinated with the israel lees and with hamas to go into three separate areas to retrieve the dead, wounded ed, those who might be trapped in their homes. we went in with the red cross, saw really how severely destroyed parts of that neighborhood were.

that's where a lot of fighting has been going on, but during that operation, we came under fire repeatedly. it's not clear from which side but at a certain point, this was a very large explosion just up the street. it appears it was israelis saying time to go, anderson. >> ben, is it at all possible to get a sense who is actually winning on the ground in gaza? i guess it depends how one defines winning, the objectives but what's the sense on the ground? >> yes, anderson, it depends where you're standing, whether you're a palestinian here in gaza or an israeli on the other side of the fence. certainly, here, hamas does feel it's accomplished quite a lot and they will tell you, they are winning. in fact, we monitor hamas media very closely and they are claiming that they have successfully caused this ban on

u.s. flights to the airport. they say they have isolated israel. they point to the israeli death toll, 29 soldiers killed in the last five days. keep in mind, during 2008, 2009. only six israeli soldiers were killed in almost three weeks of fighting. hamas says they have proven they can paralyze israel with long-range rocket fire, that on the ground israel really hasn't been able to come into gaza in the way they did in 2008, 2009 and that is because of their increased hamas' increased military capacity and capabilities. >> ben wedeman reporting, wolf blitzer, as well. thank you. coming up, the poisoning of a former russian spy gets a look. was the government behind this deteruation and death? that's next. wow, this hotel is amazing. oh no.

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the downing of flight 17 questions russian involvement raised chill. it's a familiar feeling because it reminds us of other human tragedies. tonight another chapter, the mystery that reads like a spy theory. the british government is looking whether vladimir putin's government was behind the death eight years ago. randi kaye investigates.

>> reporter: alexander turned ill, skin yellow, hair falling out. for three weeks he was hospitalized, slowly dying. his wife spoke about the last words from her husband, who she called sasha. >> i told him sasha i have to go home and he said i love you so much. >> reporter: doctors could tell he was poisoned but by what and whom? on the day he became ill he meet up with a former russian agent here at london's hotel. he had a cup of tea, that tea now believed to have been laced with poison. that poison is a rare radio acti active isotope. it takes a speck to kill. tasteless, odorless and hard to

detect. 97% of the supply is made in russia's nuclear reactors. they followed the radiation trail and in 2007 charged him with the murder. he's now a member of the russian parliament and russia has refused to extradite him to the uk. he's denied any wrongdoing but did someone at the kremlin order the hit? he worksed for the fsb, while there he became a fierce critic of valid miladimir putin. he moved his family to london hoping they would be safe but his criticism of the russian government continued. he claimed the kremlin for various attacks. >> the whole point and hatred he generated was the fsb is becoming like a criminal gang.

if it's true, he predicted his own murder. >> reporter: on his death bed, he pointed the finger at putin who by then became president of russia telling another friend this. >> you may succeed in. >> you may succeed one man, but the whole of protest from around the world will reverberate, mr. putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. >> putin has always denied any involvement. but now the british government has denied any public inquiry, a closer look at putin and the kremlin may have been behind the 2006 murder. more than seven years after alexander litvinenko died, this may be his family's best chance at finding out if russian leaders ordered the killing. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> it's an incredible story. we're going to have more of the really extraordinary day

extraordinary sad and profoundly moving day in the netherlands has the family remains are finally getting the respect and dignity that they so deserve. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, we're not just insuring our lives... we're helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally.

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well, early in the broadcast we were talking about the deeply moving words the dutch foreign minister at the united nations as his country lost 193 of its citizens on flight 17, an immeasurable loss hounded by questions that can never be answered. at the u.n., france timmermans

gave voice to grief and outrage, grief and outrage which we saw today as well. let's listen again. >> how horrible it must have been, the final moments of their lives when they knew the plane was going down. did they lock hands with their loved ones? did they hold their children close to their hearts? did they look each other in the eyes one final time in a wordless goodbye? we will never know. the demise of almost 200 of my compatriots has left a hole in the heart of the dutch nation. this caused grief, anger, and despair. grief for the loss of the loved ones, anger for the outrage of the downing of a civilian airplane, and despair after

witnessing the excruciatingly slow process of securing the crash site and recovering the remains of the victims. the last couple of days we have received very disturbing reports of bodies being moved about and looted for their possessions. just for one minute, not addressing you as representatives of your countries, but as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, just imagine that you first get the news that your husband was killed. and then within two or three days, you see images of some thug removing the wedding band from their hands. just imagine that this could be your spouse. to my dying day, i will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their difficult

jobs and that human remains should be used in a political game. if somebody here around the table talks of a political game, this is the political game that has been played with human remains, and it is despicable. >> and today in the netherlands was a day like no other. it's a country of just 17 million people. as a dutch journalist put it, everyone is a handshake away. today, as you saw, the dutch received the first remains of victims. they did it with the respect and care that the victims deserve, and they reminded the world what true humanity looks like. ♪ >> we stand together today, united in grief with the families and friends who have lost people they cherish. ♪

♪ and know they won't last forever ♪ >> dear god, we are confused and very upset and angry that this was allowed to happen, that there was no respect shown to the bodies of people who lost their lives. ♪ >> translator: how can it be that people like you and like me that people have just been taken from us on the way to a conference, on the way to a holiday, relatives of ours, friends of ours, gone. how can that be? ♪

>> translator: for all those present here in the church, i would like to ask you all to please stand and let's now have one minute's silence. ♪ >> translator: the disaster of last week has been etched in the memory of us, all of us in the netherlands. today we are joined together in our grief. we cannot take away the grief. what we can try and do is be there. be there, joined and united in our faith, in our hope and above

all, joined in love. >> i'll be back on the air tomorrow at noon eastern time as more of the victims of flight 17 return to the netherlands, and then tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. for "ac 360." cnn tonight starts now. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. 10:00 p.m. on the east coast, and just before daybreak in the ukraine in the middle east where cnn is live with the very latest on the two big stories. the white house is looking at tougher sanctions on russia as two more planes, this time military jets are shot down over ukraine. and meanwhile, the remains of victims of flight 17 are returning to the netherlands to be identified. and the plane's black boxes are being examined in the uk. are we on the verge of finding out who was to blame? we want to make sure we find out what you think of this. tweet us at