MH17: Three days on, what we know so far

Pressure from around the world continues to escalate in demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin to persuade the pro-Russian separatists to hand over the victims' remains and allow international investigators unfettered access to the crash site in Grabove.

In Malaysia, grieving family members want the bodies of their loved ones be brought back home, whatever the condition may be to bury the deceased according to their respective religion's rites and beliefs.

European leaders again warned Russia to ensure rescuers and investigators have full access to the crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine or face further European Union sanctions.

France warned Russia of "consequences" at the EU if Moscow did not "immediately take the necessary measures", after the leaders of France, Germany and Britain held a conference call.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had urged Putin during a "very intense" call to "take responsibility" for a credible probe.

British Prime Minister David Cameron had raised the prospect of fresh EU sanctions against Russia over the Malaysian plane crash, saying the West must "fundamentally change our approach" unless Moscow alters course in Ukraine.

Australian political leaders have united in urging Putin to explain Russia’s role in the tragedy that saw Flight MH17 being shot down over Ukrainian airspace.

According to a report web portal news.com.au, Labor Leader Bill Shorten announced that the country's Opposition will support the request to have Putin barred from attending the upcoming G20 meeting in Queensland.

Twenty-eight Australians were on-board the MH17 flight.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had told French President Francois Hollande that the downing near Ukraine's Russian border of Flight MH17 was similar to such atrocities as the 2001 attacks on the United States.

Meanwhile, several US media reported that the US believes that Moscow had provided Ukrainian rebels with the missile launchers that blasted the plane out of the sky

US Secretary of State, John Kerry said it was "pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia in the hands of separatists" while describing scenes at the crash site as "grotesque."

Pro-Russian militiamen in Ukraine reportedly loaded almost 200 bodies from the downed Malaysian jet into trains and said they had recovered objects from the crash site believed to be the plane's black boxes, promising to give them to "international investigators if they arrive".

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found the corpses packed into a series of refrigerated train wagons at a station in the town of Torez, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the crash site.

In justifying the move to remove the bodies from the crash site, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai said the insurgents "couldn't wait any longer because of the heat and also because there are many dogs and wild animals in the zone."

Ukrainian deputy prime minister Voldoymyr Groysman said salvage crews on Sunday found 27 more bodies and 20 body parts, with emergency workers in surgical masks seen carrying black body bags.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Sunday said Malaysia much appreciates the support of world leaders who have expressed sympathy and extended their hand of friendship over the MH17 tragedy.

Since the crash occurred, Najib had spoken to Poroshenko, who called for a thorough investigation into the MH17 incident.