Rebels hand over MH17’s black boxes

Bowing to international outrage, Ukrainian rebels on Monday finally handed over the black boxes from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 — just hours after America’s UN ambassador blasted Russia for obstructing a probe into the deadly missile attack.

Journalists document the two black boxes of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight.EPA

“Russia’s muteness over the dark days between Thursday and today sent a message to the illegal armed groups it supports: We have your backs,” Ambassador Samantha Power told the UN Security Council.

“We are not naive. If Russia is not part of the solution, it will continue to be part of the problem,” Power added.

The handoff of the flight recorders to Malaysian officials took place inside a government building in rebel-occupied eastern Ukraine at around 1 a.m. local time, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman earlier had accused pro-Russian rebels of tampering with the devices, Sky News reported.

In other developments:

  • A train carrying the rotting remains of 282 of the 298 victims left the site bound for Kharkiv and a flight to the Netherlands. The train cars’ refrigeration inexplicably stopped working overnight, but was back up and running early Monday, an engineer told The Associated Press.
  • The rebels declared a cease-fire in the six miles surrounding the site where Flight 17 crashed, according to a tweet from a Moscow-based ABC News reporter.
  • An outbreak of heavy fighting Monday in the rebel-held transportation hub of Donetsk threatened to further hinder the arrival of international investigators.
  • Authorities in the Netherlands — which lost 193 citizens in the attack — said they have opened a war-crimes investigation and sent a prosecutor to Ukraine to begin gathering evidence.
  • A senior Russian military official, Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov, insisted on Monday that “Russia did not give the rebels Buk missile systems.”

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution calling for an end to hostilities around the crash scene and an international investigation.

Ukrainian workers inspect debris at the main crash site of flight MH17, July 20, 2014.EPA

Power blasted Russia after the agreement was reached — challenging Moscow to exert its influence over the pro-Russian rebels who control the area in eastern Ukraine where the jet crashed.

“We have literally heard the sound of debris — all of it evidence that needs to be carefully preserved — crunching beneath their feet,” she said.

“We have seen separatists moving around human remains, and carting away evidence.”

People lay flowers during a silent march to pay their respects in Rotterdam, Netherlands July 21, 2014.Reuters

She added, “There is one party from which we have heard too little condemnation: and that is Russia.”

The developments came a day after Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service released intercepted conversations in which a rebel commander said he’d gotten orders from Moscow to find and seize the flight recorders.