International investigators' quest to carry out their duties at the crash site of the downed Malaysian airliner hit another roadblock Wednesday, as Ukrainian officials warned of possible land mines near the site.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council claims that "terrorists" -- the term it uses to describe rebels -- have set up firing positions and laid mines on the access road to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
The Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels are fighting over control of eastern Ukraine.
Dutch investigators in Ukraine did not mention mines but announced Wednesday that unsafe conditions kept their contingent from visiting the crash site for the fourth straight day.
CNN could not independently confirm the veracity of the statement by the Ukrainian officials, though CNN's Nick Paton Walsh traveled to and from the debris field safely Wednesday.
The dangers in the area make the work of international experts "impossible," the Ukrainian defense council said.
Workers with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe made the same call and avoided traveling to the crash site Wednesday.
Ertrugrul Apakan, chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, said he would like to see a cease-fire between combatants so investigators can work.
It was the fourth straight day the OSCE has joined the 50-strong team of Dutch and Australian investigators in declaring the region too dangerous to work in.
Dutch investigators have yet to lay eyes on the wreckage or the human remains believed still to be strewn across the huge debris field near the town of Torez.
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