The blame game between Ukrainian and Russian leaders following the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy has taken a grisly turn.
In a sensational attack against Vladimir Putin, a Ukraine official published an image purporting to show a tiny corpse of a infant victim of MH17 lying in a field, accusing the Russian President of murdering the baby.
The Huffington Post UK has chosen not to embed the distressing image.
Flight MH17 went down in the conflict-torn region of east Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board. The toll now includes 189 Dutch, 44 Malaysians, 28 Australians, 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons. One of the victims was a US citizen, holding both Dutch and American passports.
There were three infants and up to 80 children on the flight.
Senior government advisor Anton Gerashchenko posted the graphic picture on Facebook with a message to Putin saying: "This baby's death is on your conscience", before adding "Damn you for centuries!"
Gerashchenko wrote that it had been a difficult decision whether or not to publish the picture.
"We do not know the name and nationality of the child," he posted.
"No one can imagine the horror he experienced before his death, falling from a height of several kilometers.
"Let's hope that he slept on his mother's arms and did not wake up until it was killed by a collision with the ground."
As the British Government joined the United States in blaming pro-Russian separatists for the catastrophe, shocking new accounts of the carnage at the crash site have emerged.
Eyewitnesses have described horrific scenes of naked bodies strewn across fields and crashing through buildings.
Pro-Russian separatists have been accused of removing 38 bodies from the Malaysia Airlines crash scene and attempting to destroy evidence at the site.
The Ukraine government said "terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes", adding it had obtained data which showed bodies had been taken to a morgue in Donetsk.
Pro-Russian separatists have now denied a "security zone" has been set up around the Malaysia Airlines crash scene amid reports of evidence being compromised.
Ukraine's security service earlier said talks between the two sides "concluded with an agreement to set up a 20km (12 miles) security zone so that Ukraine could fulfil the most important thing - identify the bodies (and) hand them over to relatives".
But a senior official of the pro-Russian rebels' self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said no deal had been reached to seal and secure the site.
Ukrainian rebels may have tampered with the crash site of the Malaysian airliner MH17, it was alleged yesterday, with black boxes removed from the crash site and sent to Moscow "for investigation."
Self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the pro-Russian separatist 'Donetsk People's Republic' Alexander Borodai (C) stands as he arrives on the site of the crash
Gerashchenko also claimed looters have descended on the scene of the devastating crash, stealing the possessions of those who died in the blast.
Concerns were raised after gunmen yesterday prevented monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from observing the crash site in the battle-torn region of Donetsk, the rights and security watchdog said.
Critically, they said they were unable to speak to anyone about the whereabouts of the jet's two black box voice and data recorders.
Separatists reportedly fired warning shots as the group of 30 officials approached, forcing them to leave after just 75 minutes.
Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the OSCE, told CNN: "It basically looks like the biggest crime scene in the world right now, guarded by a bunch of guys in uniform with heavy firepower who are quite inhospitable.
"And there didn't seem to be anyone really in control, for example. One of our top priorities was to find out what happened to the black boxes. No one was there to answer those questions."
Experts believe the Boeing 777-200 airliner is most likely to have been hit by a Russian-built Buk radar-controlled surface-to-air missile (SAM) system - known in the West as the SA-11 "Gadfly" - which can reach targets up to 72,000ft, according to the IHS Jane's global information group. The type of missile is owned by both Russia and Ukraine.
After the attack, videos emerged purportedly showing a missile launcher being manoeuvred near the crash site on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Ukraine has accused separatists using Russian supplied missiles of coordinating the attack, but the rebels have denied downing the aircraft, while the Kremlin has accused Kiev of failing to agree a ceasefire.
Downing Street has said it appears "increasingly likely" a surface-to-air missile had been fired from near Torez, in territory controlled by rebels seeking closer ties to Moscow.
US ambassador Samantha Power, meanwhile, has said Washington could not rule out the possibility that Russia offered help to separatists to launch the missile, believed to be an SA-11.
