EU readies new Russia sanctions

The European Union was set to approve punishing sanctions against Russia on Tuesday over its role in the Ukraine crisis, as fighting in the strife-torn east again prevented international experts from reaching the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17. For the third day running, an unarmed team of Dutch and Australian police ditched plans to travel to the scene of the disaster as ‘there is currently too much fighting on and around the road to the crash site,’ said the Dutch justice ministry. The Ukrainian military confirmed early Tuesday that violence was still raging. ‘Pockets of insurgents are continuing to fire on Ukrainian positions from the towns of Snizhne, Torez and Shakhtarsk,’ said the military, referring to towns all located within about 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the site. The fresh conflict came a day after rebels admitted Kiev had regained control over part of the vast site, where the remains of some of the 298 victims from the MH17 crash still lie 12 days after the disaster. Kiev would not confirm the rebels’ claim, saying only that its troops had entered a string of towns around the scene, according to AFP.