Russia's veto of a United Nations Security Council draft resolution to prosecute those suspected of downing the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine "compounds the atrocity", Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.

Efforts to lobby and cajole Moscow's representatives fell on deaf ears, despite the fact the measure passed with the overwhelming majority of the council only for Russia to exercise its veto option as a permanent member.

Eleven countries on the 15-member council voted in favour of the proposal by Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, while three countries abstained: China, Angola and Venezuela.

Ms Bishop, who has spent the past 24 hours at UN headquarters in New York lobbying hard for a UN-backed tribunal, said Russia's decision should be treated with the "utmost disdain".

"In a world with an increasing number of violent terrorist groups and other non-state actors, many with sophisticated military capabilities, it is inconceivable that the Security Council would now walk away from holding to account those who brought down a commercial aeroplane," she told the UN assembly.

"The veto only compounds the atrocity. Only one hand was raised in opposition, but a veto should never be allowed to deny justice.

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"The recital of discredited contentions and the anticipated excuses and obfuscation by the Russian Federation should be treated with the utmost disdain."

Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said it was premature to set up an international tribunal, saying there were "no grounds" for a tribunal as the crash was "not a threat to international security".

He said the draft resolution was submitted for a vote by Malaysia and its co-sponsors with the knowledge it would be vetoed.

"This in our view indicates the fact that political purposes were more important for them than practical objectives. This of course is regrettable," Mr Churkin said.

"Russia stands ready to cooperate in the conduct of a full, independent and objective investigation of the reasons and circumstances of the crash."

Earlier, Ms Bishop tweeted a picture of representatives of the joint investigative team saying they were "united and resolved to obtain justice".

"Those who perished aboard MH17 were precious, each one mourned by heartbroken families and friends, she said.

"Their loss is incalculable, their grief inconsolable.

"They are desperate for answers. It is vital for them that the deaths of their cherished ones are held to account for those actions."

Members of a group of international experts inspect wreckage at the site where the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on August 1, 2014. ( Reuters: Sergei Karpukhin )

The Security Council session began with a moment's silence in honour of those killed in the July 2014 disaster.

Flight MH17 was shot down with 298 passengers on board, two-thirds of them Dutch. It crashed in Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists.

Thirty-eight Australian citizens and residents were killed onboard the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Julie Bishop met with Ban Ki-moon and other representatives at the United Nations in New York. ( Trevor Collens/DFAT )

Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine are conducting a criminal inquiry into the flight's downing.

Separately, the Dutch Safety Board, supported by the Australian Federal Police, is due to report its findings in October, but investigators have stressed it will only address the cause, not those responsible.

Kiev and the West point the finger at the separatists, saying they may have used a BUK surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to down the plane.

Moscow has rejected accusations it supplied the rebels with missile systems.

Russia had proposed its own rival draft resolution, which pushed for a greater UN role in an investigation into what caused the downing of the aircraft and demanded justice, but it would not have set up a tribunal.

What now? Michael Vincent's analysis They're not giving up. There's been talk the Dutch may want to reintroduce this mechanism, this concept of a tribunal at another meeting of the Security Council. I'm not quite sure how they're going to convince Russia to not use its veto. They may go into talks with the Russians to come up with a compromise but at this stage, given the Russians have been talking about not kicking this off for over a month, that seems unlikely. The Russians instead want an envoy, but Australia and the Dutch and others don't want that so at this stage they're going to continue talks. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was in meetings this morning with secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon which she described as very positive, and he expressed his support for the investigation. Those investigations are due out in October and if a mechanism can be agreed on before then, that would certainly go to the argument of Australia and other countries that it would be bipartisan. Russia said to the Security Council today the investigations have been very political, so any chance of a similar mechanism being proposed today is unlikely. But Australia and the other nations are not giving up.

Malaysia's transport minister told the meeting the killings were "senseless" and urged the council to take "decisive action against those responsible".

"We will continue to hope and advocate for this resolution today. Should that not be achieved, the joint investigation team will continue in our resolve to obtain justice for the families and we will come up with an alternative mechanism."

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, told the council "no veto will stand in the way of this heinous crime being investigated and prosecuted".

"Efforts to deny justice only intensify the pain of the victims' families, who have already endured more than any of us can fathom," she said.

"It is the effect of Russia's veto today."

On July 21, 2014, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that demanded those responsible "be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability".

There are reports the Netherlands may resubmit the tribunal proposal to a future Security Council meeting or launch criminal cases through its own court system

ABC/wires