Ukraine prepares a departure ceremony for the bodies of Malaysia Airlines passengers
Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Wednesday's ceremony was set for 11 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) at the airport in Kharkiv, before the bodies are flown to the Netherlands, Associated Press reported.
The Dutch government declared a day of national mourning as the country prepared for the arrival of the first bodies in the afternoon. The crash on Thursday killed all 298 people - most of them Dutch citizens - aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Dutch government spokesman Lodewijk Hekking said about 60 coffins were expected to arrive Wednesday afternoon on two military transport planes, one Dutch and one Australian.
Hundreds of relatives were expected to travel to Eindhoven air base where Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte will wait for the flights.
It was unclear how many of the 282 corpses reported found so far were on the train which arrived in Kharkiv, a government-controlled city, on Tuesday.