Civilian toll mounts in Ukraine fighting as MH17 probe goes on

Brutal fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels continued to take a deadly toll on civilians in east Ukraine today, as international experts once again combed woods and fields at the crash site of downed flight MH17.
Some 70 Dutch and Australian police investigators spent a third day trawling through wreckage for more unrecovered remains of the 298 people killed when the Malaysian passenger jet was blown out of the sky over separatist territory almost three weeks ago.
After days of fierce fighting prevented experts reaching the scene of the disaster, the Dutch-led probe has now bulked up to near full-strength with sniffer dogs and refrigerated ambulance vans brought in as they scramble to make up for lost time.

Search crews continue to turn up body parts and personal belongings scattered across some 20 square kilometres and those leading the probe say it could take some three more weeks despite 220 coffins already being flown to the Netherlands for identification.
Around the rebel-held location the boom of shellfire nearby -- which forced a small crew of investigators to abandon part of the site yesterday -- shows that the conflict that has claimed over 1,150 lives since mid-April continues to tear apart the former Soviet state.
The United States accuses insurgents of blowing the airliner out of the sky on July 17 with a surface-to-air missile likely supplied by Russia, while Moscow and the rebels have pointed the finger at the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine's military reported that its positions in the region continued to come under heavy bombardment, including shellfire allegedly from across the porous border with former Soviet master Russia.
Government forces have made major gains over the past month and say they are getting close to cutting off the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk from the Russian border and a second insurgent bastion of Lugansk.
Kiev's military top brass has promised to stamp out the insurgency in the near future but analysts warn the fighting could drag on as rebels have holed up in major cities and pledged to battle to the death.