It is still too dangerous for Dutch accident investigators to travel to the area in Ukraine where Malaysia Airways flight MH17 came down, killing 298 people, a spokeswoman for the mission said on Tuesday.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces has stopped experts visiting the scene for the crash for the past two days.

According to some reports, the Ukrainian army has launched an offensive against the rebels, despite calls for a ceasefire to allow the remaining victims to be repatriated.

Armed forces

So far 227 bodies have been brought back to the Netherlands to be identified.

This weekend, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte ruled out the use of armed police or soldiers to protect the crash investigators, saying it could lead to an escalation in the fighting.

MPs will be briefed on the latest situation by the prime minister on Tuesday afternoon.