Alexander Borodai, a pro-Russian separatist leader involved in the conflict in Ukraine, said on Sunday that the Malaysia Flight MH17 black boxes would be given to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The rebels also cleared away bodies of the crash's victims on Sunday and took them to refrigerated railway cars at a nearby train station. It was said that the rebels forced emergency services to surrender the bodies of other victims as they moved them to the five refrigerated train cars that are powered by an electric link. Heavy locks were placed on the train car doors.
"Their key task is to destroy possible evidence," said Andriy Parubiy, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, of the pro-Russian separatists. "It will be hard to conduct a full investigation with some of the objects being taken away, but we will do our best."
Aviation investigators and international observers were hoping to begin sifting through the crash site for any remaining evidence on Saturday, but it was reported that the rebels were hampering them from gaining access to the area in addition to the heavy fighting that was still ongoing in the eastern city of Luhansk, which is part of the crash site.
Ukraine's State Security Service head of counterintelligence, Vitaly Nayda, reiterated the rebels' lack of cooperation with the investigation efforts and also provided photographs of the main evidence - the Buk-M1 missile systems - being driven back over the border into Russia. President Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko strongly believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is supplying the rebels with the necessary weaponry and training to function.
The armed rebels forced emergency workers to hand over the bodies on Sunday. Alexander Pilyushny, an emergency worker responding to the disaster, told the Associated Press that he and others had no choice but to surrender the bodies to the rebels because they had no way of defending themselves. This comes after the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists agreed on a seven-square-mile security zone on Saturday.
The status of the investigation for international officials is unknown, and many countries including the United States and Great Britain have expressed outrage with Vladimir Putin's handling of the situation.
You can read more about the issues at the crash site in this Washington Post article.
