Chief coordinator for MH370 search to join MH17 probe

The former Australian defense force official who led the international search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 arrived in Kiev on Monday to lead a 45-man Australian team, which will inspect the MH17 crash site.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told a press conference on Monday that former Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has been sent to the Ukraine capital as his "personal envoy" to ensure " justice is done."

There were 37 Australians on board Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, including 28 citizens and a number of residents, making the crash the worst Australian airline disaster in more than 50 years.

Abbott said the state of affairs at the crash site was "an absolutely shambolic situation," and "it was imperative that we get a properly secured site, and a proper investigation."

"In order to bring them home, we have to first get them out. That is what all of our energies and efforts are directed to - getting them out and getting them home," he told reporters.

An Australian air force transport aircraft was on standby if needed for this purpose, he said.

Abbott said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday night and was ensured Australian investigators would have a "full and unfettered access to the site."

"The mood of the leaders I have spoken to is firmer and sterner now than it was ... and frankly it is firmer and sterner as it should be as more and more facts emerge," he said.

"As for my conversation with Mr Putin, I'm not going to go into details ... To Mr Putin's credit, he did say all the right things. The challenge now is to hold the president to his word."

Putin told Russian reporters on Monday that the task force investigating Malaysia Airlines MH17 "was not enough" and warned against "narrowly selfish" political exploitation of the tragedy.

The Malaysia Airliners MH17 flight with 298 people on board crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine, with no survivors found so far.

An international investigation team on the MH17 incident has been established, including officials from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Britain and the United States.

However, according to Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai who arrived in Kiev on Sunday, the Ukrainian government had informed the investigation team that the crash site was under the full control of separatist groups and "it cannot guarantee the safety of the international team in and around the crash site."

A Malaysian team of 133 officials and experts, comprising search and recovery personnel, forensics experts, technical and medical experts arrived in Kiev Saturday morning.