Under the agreement international investigators will also be guaranteed safe access to the crash site near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Credit:Reuters Mr Najib has been criticised in Malaysia for failing to directly blame the separatists for bringing down the plane as anger grew across the country about the lack of dignity for the bodies, 43 of whom were Malaysians. But he instead held a series of secret telephone calls with Mr Borodai who is believed to have said he would only hand over the bodies and black boxes to Malaysia. “In recent days there were times I wanted to give greater voice to the anger and grief that the Malaysian people feel,” Mr Najib said on Tuesday. “But sometimes we must work quietly in the service of a better outcome,” he said.

Mr Najib stressed the agreement would depend on work and good faith by the separatists but added they have “so far given their co-operation". A rescue worker carries what is believed to be a flight data recorder at the crash site. Credit:Reuters He said only now could the investigation into the tragedy begin and the victims given the “respect they deserve.” Mr Najib has vowed to bring the Malaysian bodies home by next week, the end of the Muslim fast month of Ramadan, the most significant time of the year for Muslims. Under Islam bodies are supposed to be buried within 24 hours. Alexander Borodai (centre) at the MH17 crash site. Credit:AFP

“We need to know what caused the plane to crash and who was responsible for it so that justice can be done,” Mr Najib said. Several Malaysian ministers, including Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, have been in Kiev helping to negotiate the agreement that achieved what more powerful nations, including Russia, could not. A pro-Russian rebel guards the train holding the bodies of MH17 victims. Credit:Getty Images Malaysia was already mourning the loss on March 8 of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that mysteriously veered thousands of kilometres off course and is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Malaysian ministers and Malaysia Airlines have had to fend off accusations that MH17 should not have been flying over the Ukraine war zone, saying it was a normal route that was kept open by Ukraine authorities.

Malaysia, a Muslim majority country, has been played a leading role in trying to negotiate peace deals for insurgencies in both the Philippines and Thailand. Loading The shooting down of MH17 was deeply personal for Mr Najib, whose step-grandmother was on the plane. The pro-government New Straits Times newspaper in Kuala Lumpur welcomed the news that the bodies would be flown to Amsterdam with a front page headline “Breakthrough”.