The victims of Thursday's Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crash will be transferred from the rebel-controlled Donetsk region to the Kiev-controlled city of Kharkiv for identification, Interfax reported Friday.
"We are prepared to allow the bodies to be relocated to Kharkiv, where the Ukrainian headquarters for the investigation into the catastrophe is located," Alexander Borodai, Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said in quotes carried by Interfax.
Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city and is currently under the complete control of Kiev's central government. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry announced earlier Friday that a special laboratory has been established in the city to facilitate the victims' identification.
According to Borodai, the insurgents lack adequate resources and facilities to store the bodies.
"Hundreds of bodies are currently lying in fields. Speaking not in my official capacity, but in my human capacity, this is not right," he said.
The plane crashed into Donetsk on Thursday afternoon while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, claiming the lives of all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. Each side to the Ukraine conflict immediately began hoisting blame at the other.
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