AFP says "a team of 30 Dutch forensic experts headed Sunday to the crash site...despite intensifying fighting in the area.
Via AP and LATimes.com:
Australia said earlier today that "a number" of armed personnel will enter the MH17 crash site but stressed they will be a "nonthreatening force" unaccompanied by military troops. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said some of the Australian team at the site would carry weapons to protect the crash investigators. Bishop did not specify the number.
Australia is sending 190 federal police and 40 troops to the Netherlands to participate in a planned Dutch-led operation to secure the crash site.
Also today, Australia's special envoy to eastern Ukraine, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said Australian troops would not be part of the police-led team that searches the debris zone.
Australia lost 38 citizens and permanent residents in the Malaysian plane tragedy.
That concludes our live blogging for Saturday, July 26. Find our continuing coverage of Ukraine and our entire broadcast area HERE.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service quotes Ukrainian military authorities saying their forces will not fire on or bomb Donetsk, although they have noted that they have a "direct route open" from Horlivka to that separatist stronghold:
I had been avoiding citing this grisly incident because it seemed gratuitous, but now it appears I have to chronicle it.
CNN confirms earlier reports the release of its local assistant, Anton Skiba:
Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who was added this week to the EU's sanctions targets, announced flippantly via Instagram that he was creating his own "sanctions list" that would include U.S. President Barack Obama, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherin Ashton, [and] European Parliament President Martin Schulz. I have asked them" -- he said, presumably of Chechen authorities -- "to freeze the bank accounts and assets of all kinds. From July 27 the listed politicians are denied entry to the Chechen Republic."