Police to redeploy team to MH17 crash site only with ceasefire in force

He said the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was engaged in negotiations with the warring parties.

"We had to withdraw our personnel from Ukraine because of the threat to their safety. Troops are being mobilised in the area and battles can break out at any time," he said.

Khalid spoke to reporters at the KL International Airport upon his return from Amsterdam along with 34 police personnel who had participated in the search and investigation mission of the downed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

He said the PDRM would need an area under ceasefire of 20km to 30km radius from the crash site to conduct investigation and search for the personal belongings of the Malaysian victims.

Khalid also said PDRM would deploy an officer each in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Kiev, Ukraine, to keep track of the developments pertaining to the investigation into the MH17 tragedy.

The officer in Kiev would be deployed from London to attend meetings with the Dutch, Russian and OSCE representatives on a possible ceasefire and investigation into the crash.

"For the Netherlands, an officer from Malaysia will be deployed within this week to cooperate with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which comprises Malaysia, the Netherlands and Australia, involved in identifying the bodies of the victims.

"Right now, the five remaining personnel had left for the Netherlands from Ukraine and will return to Malaysia later this week," he said.

He said MAS belonged to Malaysia therefore the country was fully responsible for the investigation.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft is believed to have been shot down over the troubled country.