ivan watson tracking the latest developments live this morning from kiev. an, these investigators try still trying to get there still little success? >> reporter: that's right, they set out about an hour and a half ago, this group with australian and dutch investigators from the rebel-controlled city of donetsk on this increasingly perilous journey to try to get to the mh-17 crash site. they have failed for the last three days to complete that journey because of heavy fighting along that road. the ukrainian military had launched an offensive on monday. ukrainian military says it is trying to capture the crash site. so that then, the investigation can be conducted basically in an area controlled by the ukrainian government. but it doesn't seem to control the crash site, this sprawling area yet. though there have been reports that some ukrainian government units have taken control of parts of it. now, the osce, the international monitors who have helped lead daily visits to the crash site, until the last four days, they've said that they're very concerned that

i want to bring in ivan watson live from donetsk. , ivan. >> reporter: good morning, john. the fighting has continued. we are not hearing as much artillery in the city of donetsk today as we heard throughout the day on monday with at least five civilian residents of the city reported killed by the city administration. we certainly saw some of the places where the shells landed. this is the city that the train loaded with more than 200 bodies of mh17 victims left from before dawn this morning on the long route to a government controlled city called kharkiv where an international team of investigators, forensics experts are gathered to help transport the passengers bodies to amsterdam. the point of origin of the doomed flight where forensics work will begin. the hard work of identifying the bodies. also, this is the city where before dawn this morning, the self-declared leaders of the separatist region, the prime minister staged an elaborate pre-dawn ceremony where he handed over the black boxes from mh17 to a malaysian delegation. the

>> ivan watson live for us. thank you. >>> 298 souls, the majority dutch. get those bodies out of there, a desperate plea of a mother. her son and his girlfriend were aboard the flight. they were pleading to allow access to the crash site. so many of us sickened by the thoughts of what's being done to their loved ones. drew is trying to stay strong after losing his brother and sister-in-law on flight 17. >> it's difficult to lose loved ones. we are hurting a lot. we also feel very comfortable about the fact we think they are in a better place. we are going to go to church. it's going to be tough. we are going to have all these people. it's very difficult when it becomes personal. >> so much of the grieving being done in the netherlands where they lost so many loved ones on that flight. erin joins us by phone. what are you seeing and hearing on the ground dpr the families? >> reporter: a team of forensic experts just arrived in eastern ukraine, dutch forensic experts according to the dutch foreign ministry. we ar

i want to bring in ivan watson from ukraine. give me the latest. >> reporter: that's right. we are hearing intermitt tant thuds of artillery from donesque. it's a stronghold city. officials from leadership are telling us they believe ukrainian government tanks and armored carriers are trying to punch through north of the city in the direction of the railroad station. the mayors, the city mayor's website put out a warning to residents online saying stay away from the north of the city from the railroad station area, which is only four or five miles from where i'm standing right now. in the meantime, the separatist movement here, credibility getting a blistering attack from one of the world leaders, when the leaders of one of the countries whose citizens died aboard malaysian slight 17 coming from the prime minister of australia who described the recovery and investigation effort in the crash zone, which is controlled by the separatist fighters. take a listen. >> there's no doubt that at the moment, the site is under the control of the russian backed rebels and given the almos

let's get more from international correspondent ivan watson covering this from ukraine. train, we were reporting at the top of this hour, ivan, the train had stopped. where is it, do we know, with the remains aboard? >> reporter: it appears there was mixed communication coming from the dutch foreign ministry, hala, where they had announced that the train had been delayed some 16 hours. and since then have corrected that statement. that has come from the ukrainian government, emergency ministry announced the train left before dawn this morning from straightist-controlled city of donets carrying bodies of 200 victims from this airline disaster. that train will have to cross front lines from separatist-controlled territory into ukrainian controlled government territory with ultimate destination of the ukrainian city of harkiev where it will undergo dutch flying the bodies to amsterdam, which was the original flight of origin for mh17 on thursday and repatriating the bodies of the victims. as you mentioned, before dawn this morning, this ceremony where the self-declare the pr

it bears repeating in light of ivan watson's reporting in ukraine. it can't be said enough.ntrast to what is happening in the netherlands today. the same is true for the voice and data recordings and handed over in a circus of a ceremony yesterday morning. they are now in great britain being carefully, quietly analyzed by international investigators, joining us with more is max foster in london. what conditions, do we know, are the black boxes in? >> they arrived. the voice recorder is the first assessed. it was damaged but they opened it up and downloaded the data and will start going through the data as of tomorrow. the other box, the flight's data recorder, they will start working on that tomorrow, as well. it's a slower process than it would normally be because the dutch leading this investigation asked this british team to be careful looking for signs the boxes were tampered with in any way. they are being careful about how they sort of access the boxes and then look at the information inside. >> i understand you spoke with the british security source who said that ther

i r ivan watson live for us from donetsk. thanks, ivan. we want to show you this huge explosion which shook gaza city this morning. take a look. now this happened about two hours ago. a towering plume of smoke rising to the sky there. several large explosions followed. the cause of the blasts is undetermined. >> and shells hit a hospital in central gaza on monday killing five people. israel's military says a crash of missiles stored near the hospital was the target and accused hamas of putting civilians near the line of fire. >> 583 palestinians have been killed in the conflict. most of them civilians. 27 israeli soldiers and two israeli civilians have died. cnn's martin savidge is joining us live from jerusalem. the objective of the mission is to destroy the tunnels and stop the rockets from coming in from gaza. but is there any indication how long this operation will last given the death toll continues to rise? >> well it does indicate if the goal is to destroy all of the tunnels it's going to take some time merely by the fact they are s

ivan watson joining us now from kiev. if serge lavrov continues his stance of denial, no doubt kiev will have some harsh criticism of that. >> reporter: absolutely. the ukrainian government here has long made the case that the separatist region in eastern ukraine is actually a russian backed armed, funded, and trained enterprise. ukrainian officials have basically said it's an invasion. some of the top leaders of the separatist regions are russian citizens. moscowvites. however, the ukrainians have long accused the separatists since the malaysian flight went down of blocking access to the debris field, to the crash site. the developments we've seen over the last 36 hours suggest it's now the ukrainian military blocking access to the dozens of dutch and australian investigators who are now in the city of donetsk, waiting to go to the crash site, because ukrainian government sources, military officials making public that the ukrainian military is making a thrust into the center of the separatist region towards the town of t

. >> ivan watson is joining us live from kiev. what additional sanctions does ukraine want to see come out of this meeting next hour? >> the ukrainian government believes that it's fighting what it almost describes as an invasion by russia since it argues that the separatists in the east are armed and funded and trained by russia about accusations that the russians denied. but they want to see any type of pressure possible to try to bring an end to this uprising. the sanctions that are being discussed are supposed to be targeting different sectors. blocking russia's access to capital markets in the defense sector. dual use goods, sensitive technologies including the energy sector. the decision to hold this meeting which would gather ambassadors from 28 eu member states came after an unusual video conference was held between the heads of state of five countries, the u.s. france, germany and britain after which there was an announcement made that there would be an attempt to bring more sanctions, presumably it would be coordinated b

ivan watson joins us now from ukraine. i understand you have been speaking about the troubles the investigators are having at the crash site. >> that is right. i spoke with the prime minister and asked it there are any negotiations going on with the government and rebels to ensure safe access to the crash site. this is what he had to say. >> the key problem is these russian-led guerilla blocked the access to the crash site. we cannot hold an investigation. even more, they have taken 38 bodies to an undetected spot. we need to recover the bodies and to start a full-fledged investigation, but russian-led terrorists do not allow us to do this. >> reporter: michael, in addition, the prime minister and other ukrainian officials continue to make a somewhat compelling case that the missile that is believed to brought down flight mh-17 was fired from rebel-held territory in eastern ukraine. they are saying it was shot down by a russian-made anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile system known as buk. and the head of the counter intel

ivan watson joins me with the latest.list, take me exactly through what happened, how he was abducted. i understand there are men waiting for him at the hotel? >> that's right, our tv crew with my colleague phil black was coming back from the malaysian air flight disaster zone on tuesday evening. they pulled up just outside this hotel and there were a group of gunmen in green camouflage with the vice premiere of the donetsk people's republic standing waiting for them with a folder of documents they got his id and detained him, marched him into a car and drove him away. they told us he was a very dangerous person, that he was a ukrainian agent and we've been trying to secure his release ever since. >> now an official with this self-declared donetsk people's republic, they accused him of terrorism and said they presented evidence allegedly taken from his facebook page but they since walked back that acquisition, yes? >> yeah, at first, it was that he had allegedly been posting ransoms for the killings of separatists fighter

cnn's ivan watson reports there are no investigators and no security on site and a great deal of the debris from the plane has been removed? >> families certainly not happy to hear that news. meantime, u.s. officials say they're investigating whether the missiles that brought down two ukrainian military jets on wednesday were fired from russia. the u.s. source is concerned about the 12 to 15 russian troops near the border with ukraine. >> another 74 coffins carrying the remains of the victims from the flight 17 tragedy are expected to arrive in the netherlands today. the first 40 coffins were greeted by family, friends, end ing on wednesday. >> this is an emotional time for the people of the netherlands. it's the first time the dutch have held a day of mourning in more than 50 years. the last followed the death of their queen. we have this report. >> reporter: a moment in time when no other plane landed in the netherlands. planes circled the skies buses stopped on roads, trains on their tracks giving those on board flight mh-17 a safe passage towards their final resting spot. they la

disappearances and executions taking place in that city while it was in the control of the separatists. >> ivan watson it, ivan. thank you. >>> up next tonight, honoring the victims of flight 17. more remains returned to the netherlands. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. that it's given me time toabout reflect on some of life'seen biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. now get the unmistakable thrill... and the incredible rush... of the mercedes-benz you've always wanted. ♪ [ tires screech ] but you better get here fast... [ daughter ] yay, daddy's here! here you go, honey. thank you. [ male announcer ] ...because a good thing like this... phew! [ male announcer ] ...won't last forever. see yo

i want to go to ukraine where ivan watson spent the day at amazingly the all but abandoned crash sitee, 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 go

cnn's ivan watson live for us in donetsk. ivan, hello to you. a funeral procession miles long. the netherlands' first national day of mourning since 1962. yet only 40 coffins were returned to their home country today. when will the remains of the other passengers be returned? >> well, we're expecting more flights from ukraine carrying the bodies of more passengers arriving in the coming day. and a big question remains is that the dutch investigators say that they have received basically 200 bodies from the crash site. that leaves 98 more people pretty much unaccounted for. a big question, what's -- where are they? the malaysian prime minister has said publicly we must not forget those who remain unaccounted for. we urge the search to continue for those who are still missing. we went out to the crash site wednesday evening as the sun was starting to set, as the procession was still taking place in the netherlands for the 40 people who were brought back there. and we saw no search effort, no investigation expert at the crash site looking for bodies or information about how the cr

ivan watson, cnn, donetsk in eastern ukraine. >>> the european union has placed sanctions on a number of top russian officials. assets have been frozen by the eu. bortna cough is among those because of his actions in ukraine. >>> still to come here, heated reaction around the world. the crisis in gaza leads to scenes like this in many european cities, and that's raising serious concerns about anti-jewish sentiment. could we be seeing a new wave of anti-semitism. that's coming up after a short break. >>> and welcome back. i'm john vause live in jerusalem. and since this latest outbreak of violence between israel and hamas, there's been a wave of anti-war protests around the world. most have been peaceful, but some have turned violent, unleashing a wave of anti-semitism, which is, in this report, on the rise around the world. >> reporter: in the suburbs of paris, there are scars of violence directed toward the jewish community here. last week, it became the flash point for anger against israel. synagogues burned and looted. this man is afraid to show his face on camera because of fear o

ivan watson is there. >> reporter: carol, that's right. we've had progress for the families with that train carrying its precious cargo of more than 200 victims of the doomed flight mh-17 that has arrived. it made a journey, a difficult journey from rebel controlled territory, the city of donetsk where i am, controlled by separatists about an hour drives away from the crash site, it had to cross active front lines into ukrainian controlled territory in the city of kharkiv where a team led by dutch investigators are then in charge of moving the victims to amsterdam, the point of origin of flight mh-17. this taking place, you know, more than four days after the plane went down. also the handover of those black boxes, those flight recorders finally surrendered at a predawn ceremony by the self-declared prime minister of this separatist region to a malaysian delegation. it took more than four days to get the separatists to admit that they were actually in possession of these black boxes and you are also seeing footage of a prayer ceremony, a m

. >> i want to bring in ivan watson live from donetsk in ukraine, far from that crash site. an, what's the latest this morning? >> reporter: well, right now, there is a plane that is being loaded with bodies of at least 200 of the victims of the doomed malaysia air flight 17 from the ukrainian city of kharkiv which is controlled by the ukrainian government. it will be delivering this very valuable cargo to the netherlands where it will be met at the airport we're told by the king and queen of the netherlands, by the prime minister of the country as well. which is declared a day of mourning. the dutch lost more than 190 citizens aboard that flight. they had the largest losses out of all of the 298 passengers that were aboard that plane. in addition, the diplomacy continues between the governments of countries that also had citizens aboard the plane. the german chancellor angela merkel called the malaysian prime minister. and had a discussion, that included concerns about, quote, hindering at the crash site that has to be stopped. angela merkel and the malaysian prime minister

>> ivan watson in kiev. thank you. the war clearly raging on. but to the crash investigation itself, we were talking to phil black about the scene, we know the european investigators have arrived. washington says it is sending two crash investigators to ukraine. one from the fbi, one from the ntsb. but as we showed you, the crash scene itself isn't just compromised, it's dangerous. mary schiavo, former inspector general of the department of transportation, and bob baer, former cia operative. really, first question can go for either of you. pare, you first. mary, you first. is there even a procedure? is there even a precedent for investigating a scene of this nature that is clearly as ivan was explaining, in the middle of a war zone? >> well, in the middle of a war zone, no. not quite like that. the closest thing to it is pan am 103 or the shootdown of korean airlines 007. that was in water. and the investigation there was compromised by great hostility from russia for the former soviet union. but here, the people on the ground, the air crash inv

. >> ivan watson, thank you for your report. all signs point to pro-russian rebels in ukraine by the military in the tragedy. was it a tragic mistake intended to strike a ukrainian military plane or attack on the commercial airline? what will investigators be able to determine from u.s. satellites? lieutenant colonel dan hampton is a decorated fighter pilot. his job was to draw fire to surface-to-air missiles. he is the author of the book "lords of the sky." and the former army general for europe and an expert on ukraine. general, let me begin with you. what would you expect us to be able to learn from the satellite information? >> well, i'll start off, michael, and say it depends on where we were looking at the time. if a satellite is focused on an area, we certainly can gain a lot of intelligence. it is not an unblinking eye. it would have had to be located in that vicinity to determine what we are looking for. if it was, we will see a heat signature from the missile launch. we could see trajectory potentially and we might be

ivan watson was listening to this from kiev where his comments are sure to be received rather coldly. what did you make of what we just heard? >> reporter: well, sergey lavrov making the case of basically that western governments and the ukrainian government had broken a number of agreements since february when presidethe presid still in power here. and the shelling in eastern ukraine and effectively blocking access to the mh17 crash site. he responded to allegations that russia is arming and supplying the separatist rebels and firing across the board at ukrainian military targets using artillery by inviting international monitors from the osce to establish a presence along the border to refute those charges. now the accusations that have come first from the ukrainian government here and from its allies in washington and the u.k., i might add, is that russia is basically arming, equipping, funding the separatist rebels in eastern ukraine and that it has even fired from russian territory at ukrainian military targets. so the battle of two completely different narratives, still very lik

i want to bring in ivan watson live from donetsk. the train carrying the victims, when will that arrive in kharkiv and what is the status of the fighting where you are standing right now? >> reporter: good morning, john. the train with the precious cargo is expected to arrive in approximately two hours. it is crossing front lines from rebel held territory such as the city of donetsk that i'm in now and crossing active front lines because there was shelling overnight residents heard and throughout the day on monday we heard the constant rumble of artillery hitting the northern outskirts of the city from the direction of ukrainian military positions. we saw in what is largely empty city here, some of the residents left here in donetsk. some of them frightened and running away with their children and pets away from the direction of the artillery. some of it hit residential neighborhoods of the city and killed at least five civilians. that train navigating some treacherous and dangerous territory on the way to kharkiv where it's then exp

our senior international correspondent ivan watson is live for us. the latest on the crash site, the situation apt the crash site, ivan. >> reporter: that's right. well, ukrainian officials say at least 251 bodies of victims have been identified. we know that many of the bodies have been moved within the past 24 hours to refrinl rated cars on two trains in the nearby area. we don't know the ultimate destination of those trains. we know that malaysian and australian oh officials are coming to ukraine now. they are hoping to be able to get to work on identifying bodies of victims and repate reiting them to their countries when they can get safe access to the crash site. many government officials have made direct appeals to the president of russia to put some kind of pressure on the separatists to allow safe passage. the russian president vladimir putin has issued a statement within the last couple of hours in which he described this as a, quote, tragic event. take a listen to an excerpt of his statement. >> translator: however, no one should have the ri

ivan watson, stay safe, ivan. thank you.o a crash site in a war zone where the fighting, as ivan said, is worsening, where the arms are flowing, where rebel patience is wearing thin, and the crash site, the crime scene itself remains unsecured except for those rebels. i want to bring back miles o'brien and david soucie and former cia officer bob baer. you know, david, you heard in ivan's report there about the difficulties obviously in this entire region. do you see any possibility of an actual crash investigation going on? >> honestly, i really do. you look at the accident that happened in colorado springs and how little there was left that of because it had gone straight down. there wasn't much left. we were able to determine everything that happened in that accident. >> but you didn't have armed insurgents running around firing and shooting each other. >> that's the challenge. as far as disrupting the site, i think there is always going to be tlefd. what i recommend is someone goes in there immediately and documents where

ivan watson is live in kiev, ukraine, with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. we have to be a little bit careful here in the fog of war and in the information war that's under way, not to take one side or the other too much at face value here. yes, the ukrainian military claim i claiming that the pro-russian separatists have mined the sprawling debris field off ma ma lags air flight 17. at the same time the rebels accused the military of ukraine of putting its tanks on part of the debris field, of digging trenches there and carrying on battles there. the ukrainian military basically its offensive starting monday against a number of towns on the road to the crash site are part of what have blocked australian and dutch investigators of being able to reach the crash site for four straight days. before this took place as recently as last thursday i could travel freely to the crash zone when it was firmly in control of the separatists. since the ukrainian military tried to capture the crash zone as well as surrounding

senior international correspondent ivan watson spoke to people who live in the area and are continuallycrossfire. >> a question to a separatist fighter in eastern ukraine. what would you like 0 say to the families of mh flight 17? >>. >> translator: guys, we didn't do it. we didn't shoot, he says. and walks away. an emotional denial from a rebel on the frontlines of a war that is spilling into this separatist-controlled city. and now rockets keep falling on donetsk. this is what's left of what was a bus station and a market area that was hit either by rockets or artillery locals tell me. late thursday night. and it's clear that this is a residential area. i'm very surprised to see at this little stall, it's still working right next to where the shells landed. and you're just working here. [ speaking foreign language [ speaking foreign language ] so she's sitting in a damaged little shop selling bread because she says people need it. lease no electricity. lease no water. but people still need to eat. the sound of artillery echoes here day and night. after thursday night's bombardment, it

thanks very much 0 ivan watson. between the bodies, hypes of twisted steel and charred vestiges of the lives lost in the attack. the crash site might be the largest crime seen in the world today but the first four days after the plane went down were most lit lost. separatists firing shots even at international observers, even delaying the return of bodies. the last development not only do delete key evidence from the equation, it leaves those grieving families in a painful painful limbo. president obama react this had way earlier today. >> that's the least we can do. that's the least that the decency demands. families deserve to be able to lay their loved ones to rest with dignity. >> it appears that the dead are now finally being turned over to the proper authorities, slowly. but will investigators ever be able to figure out exactly what happened to the plane. >> we'll bring in aviation correspondent rene marsh. it's been four days. that's a lot of the days for this very important crime scene to be scrubbed of very

i want to go to ivan watson in ukraine. i know you had a chance to speak to the prime minister of ukraine. now we have this new development that the u.s. is confirming the missile system they believe was responsible for shooting down the plane has been brought back over into russian territory. this fits with exactly what you were told. >> that's right. the chief of ukraine's counter intelligence agency, he made the claim on saturday that no less than three of these buk m-1 missile systems had been brought into ukrainian territory. since the downing of mh17, that all of them have since returned to russian territory. he went one step further in a briefing with journalists arguing that the missile system that he claims was used to bring down mh17 was operated by russian nationals, fired by russian nationals. the ukrainian prime minister said that he didn't believe that whoever pressed the button was some drunken separatist rebel, but that this had to be somebody who was trained, who could handle the sophisticated piece of tech

. >> for the latest on the recovery everies, let's go to the city, and ivan watson, it's difficult to see video of these people who are not in any way authorities, just kind of picking through this crash sight, any word on whether they will, at some point allow aviation officials in from the other countries? who are headed there right now. >> well, the separatist leader here's, they insist that the door is open, for aviation officials to come in, and there's demands coming from the leaders of countries who's citizens aboard the flight, the may lasian and australian and dutch prime minister, demanding and quite critical of the effort saying open the doors, let people in and give us access to the victims' bodies a as soon as possible and hand overall the flight data recorders. also, these leaders have been making public appeals to the russian president, putin saying that he should make sure that he cooperate with an international investigation. and late sunday night and early monday morning the russian president made a statement, calling for an international investigation that would inc

>> ivan watson for us. it's all just defies every sense of civilization. >> we are talking 298 souls lost on this flight. this morning, grieving family members of those on board flight 17 are pleading with the russians and the rebels to give international teams access to the crash site. the thought of loved ones piled in train cars is too much to bear. listen to drew rider trying to stay strong after losing his brother and sister-in-law on flight 17. >> it's very difficult to lose loved ones. i'm not kidding saying we are hurting a lot. we feel confident they are in a better place. we are going to go to church and it's going to be tough. we are going to have all these people -- it's very difficult when it becomes personal. >> you can hear the pain in his voice. imagine the pain they must be feeling in the netherlands this morning as they continue to search for them. erin is live in amsterdam. what are you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: hi, john. we are just getting word from the dutch foreign ministry

let's bring in ivan watson in donetsk. this is a crime scene happening in the middle of a war. >> reporter: that's absolutely true. with residents here in this separatist controlled city i'm in called donetsk, describing shelling continuing throughout the night in the northern edges of the city and throughout the day on monday, we heard the constant rumble of artillery and witnessed, saw some civilian neighborhoods, residential neighborhoods hit by artillery that appeared to have come from ukrainian government military positions with eyewitnesses telling us that several civilians were killed as a result of what looked like indiscriminate shelling that clearly raised fear among the population here, which is greatly diminished. this city is largely empty at this time. it does not look like a normal city. the streets are largely empty. we saw terrified people bidding farewell to their children, their wives, sending them on the train to moscow, out of the war zone and to safety on monday. again, that underscores the complicate

i want to go to ivan watson, live in kiev. let's talk about what happened. it is unprecedented to have a situation, frankly, like this, where you have such a tragedy, 298 innocent lives lost and more than a week later, international officials with no stake in the game in this conflict cannot reach the site where some of the victim's remains still stand. what do we know? >> reporter: in fact, poppy, what we have seen is the access to the crash site was pretty good last week. but, it has basically been shut down by a ukrainian military offensive within the last couple days. the fierce fighting on the road to the crash site is preventing this team of australian and dutch investigators from reaching the site. investigators say their top priority was to try to go and recover the remains of dozens of victims still believed to be missing and also to begin recovering the belongings of the 298 innocent people. so, they have been forced to turn back now for the third straight day, as you have reported. we heard here on monday, the head of the dutch rescue recovery mis

senior international correspondent ivan watson is live in the city of donetsk. dimir putin is now weighing in. and if anyone has influence with the guys, with the guns at the crash site, it is him. >> reporter: that's right. and a number of world leaders have publicly urged the russian president to put pressure on the separatists to allow an open and international investigation of the crash site and also to return the bodies of the victims as swiftly as possible. now, he responded, calling this a tragic event. he also said that he wants investigators to come in under the guidance of the international civil aviation organization. take a listen to an excerpt of his statement. >> translator: however, no one should have the right to use this tragedy to achieve selfish political objectives. such events should not divide but unite people. it is necessary that all the people who are responsible for the situation in the region would direct their responsibility to their own people and to the peoples of those countries whose representatives have been victims of this disast

senior international correspondent ivan watson is live from donetsk. what do we know about this? how did it happen, ivan? >> reporter: well, part of a bigger trend. detention of journalists are happening at zdizzying speed here, and anton skiba is one of those examples. our team returned tuesday evening, and there was a group of arm eed separatists led by a leader of the self-declared donetsk people's republic waiting just outside the door of our hotel here. they took anton skiba who had been working as a translator for us for all of one day, called him a terrorist, and took him away in a car. and we haven't heard from him certainly throughout the day today. separatist officials have not given us any updates about him whatsoever. the committee to protect journalists, reporters without borders, the united nations have all come out publicly calling for this young man, young man to be released, anderson. >> for our viewers who don't realize, often we work with local journalists when we arrive in a place to help us get around, to help us get access, to talk to people, to interview peo

cnn's ivan watson is there for us. ivan? >> reporter: nearly a week after malaysian flight 17 crashed into these farm fields in eastern ukraine, the bodies of some of the victims have been transported, returned to the netherlands, the country of origin for this doomed flight where they were greeted by a very somber ceremony. the flight data recorders that were on board the plane, they've been taken to the united kingdom where experts are now going through their contents, trying to learn more about what exactly happened last thursday. the conflict that nearly everybody agrees directly contributed to the downing of this commercial plane and the deaths of 298 innocent victims, it continues to rage. rebels, the rebels who control this area shot down two ukrainian warplanes about a half hour from where i'm standing right now. the rebels say that they used shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles to shoot down those jets. and throughout the day, we have heard the distant war of warplanes flying very high overhead. and as for the i

senior international correspondent ivan watson reports. >> reporter: nearly a week after malaysia airlineslight 17 crashed into these farm field, the bodies of some of the victims have been transported, returned to the netherlands, the country of origin for this doomed flight where they were greeted by a very somber ceremony. the flight data recorders on board the plane, they've been take on the the united kingdom where experts are now going through their contents trying to learn more about what exactly happened last thursday. the conflict that nearly everybody agrees directly contributed to the downing of this commercial plane and the deaths of 298 innocent victims, it continues to rage. rebels -- the rebels who control this area shot down two ukrainian warplanes about a half hour from where i'm standing right now. the rebels say they used shoulder-mounded surface-to-air missiles to shoot down those jets and throughout the day we've heard the distance roar of warplanes flying very high overhead. and as for the investigation, there's been a united nations security council resolution callin

international correspondent ivan watson spoke exclusively to the prime minister.d he believes the missile system used to shoot down the airliner was supplied to the rebels by russia. >> this is not the russian-led terrorists who pressed the button. this is someone well trained. someone who knows how this russian machine works. someone who has an experience and we together with the international community will find out all responsible for this international crime. and those who supported them. this is the crime against humanity. and the building of international criminal court is very big. >> if the question on many minds, just why did malaysia flight 17 fly over a war zone? cnn's richard quest with some answers next. (vo) you know that dream... where you're the hero? hey... you guys mind warming this fella up for me? i'm gonna go back down, i saw some recyclables. make it happen with verizon xlte. find a car service. we've doubled our 4g lte bandwidth in cities coast to coast. thanks! sure. we've got a spike in temperature. so save the day... don't worry, i got th

ivan watson, cnn, kiev. >> now prime minister david cameron, the british prime minister is placing the blame squarely at moscow's feet. and he is calling on european countries to take economic action against russia. in a front page opinion piece in the sunday times, he writes, this is a direct result of russia destabilizing a sovereign state. violating its territorial integrity backing thuggish militias and training and arming them. he went on for too long, there has been rae luck answer the on the part of too many countries to face up to the implications of what is happening in eastern ukraine. it is time to make our power, influence and resources count. >> the first part, russia has denied any involvement in the crash. president putin is calling for a thorough and objective investigation. the russian foreign minister lavrov spoke by phone to john kerry. they agreed all evidence from the plane, including the black boxes, should be made available to investigators and that experts should be allowed full access to the site. on this programming note, secretary of state john kerry will be

ivan watson from donetsk in ukraine.ery much for that. >> as ivan was mentioning there, there's every level of conflict happening right now between those who support ukraine and separatists. there are claims and counter claims flying back and forth between russia over the attack on the airliner. a top ukrainian official, for example, is making a bold claim against moscow. kim la sat down with the spy chief who told her the downing of flight mh17 was no accident. >> who operated the missile launcher that did this? killing 298 passengers and crew aboard malaysia airlines flight 17? based on their own intelligence, there's no question in the mind of ukraine's spy chief. >> you believe that was a russian. >> absolutely. >> a russian trained. >> a russian trained well equipped well educated officer. >> who pushed that button. >> who pushed that button. >> not just a pro-russian rebel but a russian officer. the he says an officer would be the only one who would have the training to operate the missile. he walked us through his

our senior international correspondent ivan watson is live in donestk to tell us more about his abductiond morning. >> good morning, carol. that's right cnn was not reporting on anton skiba's detention because we were working behind the scenes with separatist officials trying to secure the young man's release. he had worked for cnn all of one day as we describe it in the industry here as a fixer, a kind of translator and guide to this region. what happened

our ivan watson is joining us now live from donetsk in eastern ukraine. ivan, tell our viewers exactly what we know what happened? >> reporter: well, imagine the scene, wolf, when my colleague and phil black and his crew were coming back from the disaster site of malaysian air flight 17. they pull up right outside this hotel where there was a group of gunmen waiting led by a senior official from the donetsk people's republic. and they proceeded to identify this young ukrainian journalist, anton skiba, who had been working for us for all of one day as a translator and guide. they identified him and then promptly detained him, walking him away to a waiting car. we have not seen him since. he's been accused both of being a terrorist and a ukrainian agent by the pro-russian separatists here. we haven't gotten any additional comment despite many requests for information from the officials here. a number of different press freedom groups and human rights organizations including reporters without borders, the committee to protect journalists, the united nations h

we want to bring in ivan watson.or a second day in a row, they cannot reach the site. >> reporter: actually, this is the third day, third straight day in a row this team of dutch and australian investigators have not been able to travel to the crash site. already monday, they were talking about being frustrated, deeply disappointed. the reason they can't travel this is they are currently in the rebel held city of donetsk. and the ukrainian military is involved in fierce battles with the pro-russian separatists in two key towns on the main road toward the crash site. clearly, it's not a safe road for the investigating team to travel on to try to get to that site. during the first week of this airplane disaster, after flight 17 went down, the accusation was against the separatists, they were not allowing investigators to travel to the scene. they clearly started opening the road and cooperating more and more with each passing day. now, it's the ukrainian military offense that complicated efforts. a spokesman coming up

we're going to bring in ivan watson now who's following developments from kiev. he joins us live. we're looking at a situation where you have possible new sanctions to be decided by the eu, the u.s. says it's got a few sanctions on its way that will target russian banks and energy companies. how is all of this information being viewed there in the eastern part of the country fighting we've just seen is yorn going. the ukrainians are looking for any additional pressure that can come against not only the separatists, but against russia as well. which they accuse of arming and fnding and training the separatists. in this case, what we've got is an unusual video conference that took place on monday involving the leaders of france, germany, italy, britain and the u.s. and coming out of that meeting an announcement that additional measures would be adopted against russia, because it was allegedly continuing to support the rebels in eastern ukraine. take a listen to what the deputy national security adviser from the u.s. had to say about the possible additional measures that the eu will

ivan watson, stay safe, thank you. >> a crash site where the fighting is worsening, where the arms are flowing with rebel patience is running thin and the crash site is unsecured. i want to bring in my guests. you know, david, you heard in ivan's report there about the difficulties, obviously, in this entire region. do you see any possibility of an actual crash investigation going on? >> honestly, i really do. you look at the accident that happened in colorado springs and how little there was left of that because it came straight down. there wasn't much left. we were able to determine everything that happened in that accident. >> but you didn't have armed insurgent running around -- >> that's the challenge. as far as disrupting the site, there is always going to be evidence there. somebody needs to go in and document where everything is with high-definition cameras, get it put together, document everything you can, get it on trucks and get it the heck out of there. >> does this make sense? the rebels, they are saying their patience is running thin. dutch and australians were talking ab

our ivan watson is in donetsk as well. we'll talk to him about where we know this young man is. f where these pro-russian separatists may be holding him? >> reporter: we haven't gotten any updates despite numerous requests for information throughout the day today, thursday, from separatist officials. according to the committee to protect journalists, michaela, quote, abductions and detentions of journalists are happening at a dizzying speed in eastern ukraine. and this young man, this young ukrainian journalist, anton, who had basically worked just one day as a translator and guide for us helping take us to the site of malaysian air flight 17 is one of those journalists. there was a group of separatist gunmen led by a senior separatist official waiting at our hotel when the tv crew came back around this time tuesday evening, and they detained him. they called him a terrorist and led him away in a car. now, they have since told us that he was being questioned. the accusation that he is a ukrainian agent spy, a very serious one at a time when the ukrainian army and the separatists

our senior international correspondent ivan watson is live in donestk to tell us more about his abduction. good morning. >> good morning, carol. that's right cnn was not reporting on anton skiba's detention because we were working behind the scenes with separatist officials trying to secure the young man's release. he had worked for cnn all of one day as we describe it in the industry here as a fixer, a kind of translator and guide to this region. what happened is on tuesday, when my colleague phil black and his television crew were returning here from a day of work at the site of the malaysian air flight 17 crash, when they arrived just outside this hotel, there were a group of gunmen led by a senior separatist official who were waiting. they asked for the identity of anton skiba and then basically accused him of being a terrorist and led him away to a waiting car. he did not resist as he was taken away. when a cnn cameraman tried to film the detention with a cell phone, the separatists took that cell phone and returned it several hours later with an apology on condition that the video b

. >> let's go right to ivan watson he is on the ground near the ukrainian border with russia. we know it's been very tense there. give us a look at the situation on the ground right now. is there fighting happening near you? >> reporter: there has been the rumble of art tillry throughout the day heard, i would estimate a six miles away. some art tillry strikes hit this city on monday and killing five civilians. we saw some apartment blocks that had been hit by this artillery that had come from ukraine government military positions. that triggered some fear in donetsk. the crash zone is an hour plus drive from here. it is in another area controlled by the separatists, but not that far from the fighting. for example, when malaysian experts went to the scene to start inspecting the site, today they heard in the distance the sound of rockets being fired, saw some of the signs of that artillery being fired, and that does underscore the fact that this terrible tragedy happened in an active war zone and no less than russian president vladimir putin himself has admitted that likely th

cnn's senior film correspondent ivan watson spoke exclusively to the prime minister.terview and what was unveiled. >> reporter: frederica, the ukrainian government continues to point the finger, not only at the rebels in eastern ukraine that it's been battling and g j engaged with in a deadly conflict the past three months but also against the russian government which it accuses of arming and training and sporting those rebels. the ukrainian prime minister told me that he thinks there is a high probability that the missile system that is believed to have been used to shoot down malaysian air flight 17 was supplied to the rebels again he claims by the russian government. >> what we know for sure, these missile system was located in the area that is fully and entirely controlled by russian-led terrorists. this is not the russian-led drunk terrorists who pressed the button. this is someone well-trained, someone who knows how this russian machine works. someone who has an experience. an we will find out who is responsible for this. this is a crime against humanity and the

let's bring in ivan watson live from kiev, ukraine this morning. morning, chris. that's right. for the third straight day in a row these investigators, dozens of australian and dutch investigators unable to make it to the crash site from the rebel-held city of donetsk because of fighting on the road. now you traveled on that road. you know that it goes through a number of towns that have been under attack by the ukrainian military, basically since monday. serious fighting taking place. lives being lost on both sides between the separatists and the ukrainian government forces, but what it's effectively doing is blocking access for these investigators to get to the site. they say their top priorities right now is to recover bodies, recover the bodies of dozens of victims still missing 12 days after malaysian air flight 17 went town and also to recover belongings, so this recovery effort being failed and now it's gone all the way up to the dutch prime minister calling the ukrainian prime minister here in kiev and saying, please, bring about a cease-fir