International observers turned away from Ukraine crash site again

International observers turned back Wednesday after making another attempt to reach the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, and a government official said the area near the zone had been mined by pro-Russian separatists who control it.

The United States and some of its Western allies have accused the separatists of shooting down the plane, likely by accident, and say Russia may have supplied the weapons involved. Moscow has denied this, saying the Ukrainian military may have fired on the plane.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set out Wednesday in two vehicles — without frustrated crash investigators from the Netherlands, who have been trying to reach the site for four days. Many of those who died in the crash were Dutch.

The OSCE observers turned back to the city of Donetsk after discussions with rebels.

Safety concerns and hindrance from the separatists who control the area have kept the investigation team away. Foreign governments whose citizens died have complained the site is not secured and some human remains have not been recovered.

Ukrainian government security spokesman Andriy Lysenko added to those concerns Wednesday by saying separatists "have mined the approaches to this area. This makes the work of the international experts impossible."

Lysenko was asked at a briefing about concerns that Ukrainian efforts to win back territory were increasing fighting in the area and slowing access. He said that Ukrainian troops were not conducting operations against the separatists near the site, but were trying to cut off the rebels’ supply lines to force them to leave the area.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces took control of the town of Avdeevka, just to the north of the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

Local officials said 19 people had been killed and 31 people injured in the fighting over the past 24 hours.

Kiev's military offensive has forced the rebels out of some areas they held, except in their strongholds in and around the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and fighting has intensified since the deaths of 298 people when the airliner was brought down on July 17.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's office said on Wednesday that his country will host talks between Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE on the Ukraine crisis.

It did not say when the talks would take place, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked Lukashenko to host them on Thursday and to focus on securing access to the crash site.

There was no indication that pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukraine's army would attend the talks, although Lukashenko's office said "all interested sides" were invited.

The talks are expected to involve Russia's ambassador to Kiev, Mikhail Zurabov, and former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who have met several times since the crisis in Ukraine began but have failed to secure a breakthrough.

Wire services