Russia has expressed hope that talks between Kiev and rebel leaders on the status of eastern Ukraine would start shortly.
"We are hoping that the talks will start quickly," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, also expressing hope that a ceasefire agreed in Minsk last week would hold.
"We are not interested in anyone or anything trying to scuttle the implementation of the Minsk agreements."
Soon after his comments, an interim report by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) was released, indicating a Malaysian passenger jet blew up in mid-air over eastern Ukraine after being hit by numerous "high speed objects", claiming 298 lives.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside", said the highly anticipated report, which was released on Tuesday.
The findings appear to back up claims the Boeing 777, which crashed in July as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was hit by shrapnel from a missile.
"There are no indications that the MH17 crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew," the report said.
Kiev and the West have accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Moscow.
But Russia, which denies mounting Western claims of direct involvement in the five-month conflict in Ukraine, blamed government forces for the attack.
The report was issued just a day after the EU announced it was adopting new sanctions on Russia over its role in the conflict in its western neighbour that has killed more than 3000 people, including the MH17 victims.
Air crash investigators hope they may be able to return to the crash site if a ceasefire agreed on Friday between the Ukraine government and the separatist rebels holds.
Kiev has accused the insurgents of repeated violations of the tenuous truce, and on Tuesday the government said four soldiers had been killed and 29 wounded since Friday.
It also reported that the government-controlled airport outside the main insurgent stronghold of Donetsk was hit by rocket and mortar fire overnight.
The European Union agreed to new sanctions against Moscow on Monday, but said they could be suspended if the truce does not collapse.
"Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Moscow would react to any new punitive steps with an "asymmetrical" measure that could see EU airlines banned from flying over the airspace of the world's largest country.
Diplomats said the new EU restrictions bar Russia's largest state-owned oil and defence firms from using European markets to raise capital, and slap more asset freezes and travel bans on officials.
However, both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko have vowed to work to uphold the so-called "protocol" signed in Minsk, the first ceasefire backed by both Kiev and Moscow.
The Kremlin said the two leaders - who often speak by phone despite only having met twice since Poroshenko's election in May - agreed to continue discussing "steps to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the situation in southeast Ukraine".
Poroshenko paid a highly symbolic visit to Mariupol on Monday, vowing that the port city on a key route between Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula would remain in government hands.
"It is our land. We will not give it up to anyone," he said.
Mariupol has been on edge fearing a full-on offensive by rebels who advanced across the southeast in late August apparently backed by Russian troops and firepower, quickly reversing recent Ukrainian gains.
Poroshenko said there had been 10 to 12 truce violations a day and called on the OSCE, the pan-European security body that brokered the deal, to send observers to the "dangerous" spots where violence had flared.
Officials also announced on Monday that around 650 Ukrainians held by rebels had been released, one of the conditions of the 12-point Minsk accord.
Share
