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Forensic Team Unable To Reach MH17 Debris Field

Pro-Russian militants block the road behind Dutch and Australian forensic teams on their way to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 28, 2014 in Donetsk. Dutch and Australian forensic investigators turned back on their way to the MH17 crash site on July 28, after 'explosions' in the area, a government spokeswoman in The Hague said. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
Pro-Russian militants block the road behind Dutch and Australian forensic teams on their way to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 28, 2014 in Donetsk. Dutch and Australian forensic investigators turned back on their way to the MH17 crash site on July 28, after 'explosions' in the area, a government spokeswoman in The Hague said. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Heavy fighting today in the area of downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in Eastern Ukraine has, for a third day in a row, prevented a team of Dutch and Australian forensic experts from reaching the debris field.

Ukrainian authorities say the data from the plane’s black boxes show the plane was destroyed by shrapnel from a missile.

Yesterday, U.S. officials released satellite images that they say show rockets have been fired from Russia into Ukraine, and Russian heavy artillery has been sent into the region to help pro-Russian rebels there.

Paul Sonne of The Wall Street Journal was there when the parents of a victim reached the wreckage in hopes of finding their daughter, Fatima Dyczynski. Sonne speaks to Here & Now’s Robin Young.


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Guest

  • Paul Sonne, Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, currently in Ukraine. He tweets @PaulSonne.

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