MH17: Malaysia receives black boxes from Ukrainian rebels

DONETSK: Malaysian officials have received the two MH17 black boxes from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Tuesday in Ukraine.

At 6.11am, DPR representatives showed up at their government headquarters here with the Malaysian government representatives.

Speaking to the press, DPR leader Alexander Borodai thanked Malaysia and the Netherlands for sending teams here on Monday to resolve the MH17 matter.

"(Our) thanks to Malaysia and Netherlands for coming here without protection or help from Kiev (the Ukrainian government)," he said, according to a rough translation by a local.

A handover ceremony then took place between the DPR and Malaysian officials.

Both parties were seen signing various documents.

The DPR then produced a white sack containing the black boxes and showed them to the Malaysian officials.

The boxes were then inspected and later accepted by the Malaysian officials.

A man who introduced himself as Kol Mohd Shukri of the National Security Council thanked Borodai for handing the boxes back to Malaysia.

"I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Borodai for giving us the opportunity and entertaining our special request to hand over the two black boxes to Malaysia," he said.

He added that teams from Malaysia would also be sent to the crash site although he did not specify a time and date for this.

On Monday Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reached an agreement with Ukrainian rebels for custody of the black boxes and access to the Malaysia airlines flight MH17 crash site.