The Netherlands has received the first victims' bodies from crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in a solemn ceremony at Eindhoven air base.

Forty hearses left for the town of Hilversum where the formal identification process will begin.

The Netherlands is observing a national day of mourning for the 298 victims, most of whom were Dutch.

Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels have been widely accused of shooting down the plane on 17 July.

UK government sources say intelligence shows rebels deliberately tampered with evidence, moving bodies and placing parts from other planes in the debris.

Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatseniuk claims one of its jets may have been downed by an air-to-air missile

As fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, officials in Kiev told the BBC that two aircraft, thought to be military jets, had been downed just 35km (20 miles) from the crash site.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk later told the BBC that one of the fighters could have been hit by an air-to-air missile. He did not directly accuse Russia but said it was not brought down by a Ukrainian jet.

Two military planes - one Dutch and the other Australian - carrying the first 40 coffins landed at Eindhoven air base on Wednesday afternoon. They were met by members of the Dutch royal family, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and hundreds of victims' relatives.

Churches around the Netherlands rang their bells for five minutes before the planes landed, and flags of all the nations affected by the disaster have been flying at half mast. There was also a minute's silence.

The coffins were slowly loaded into a fleet of waiting hearses which then moved off in motorcades.

(BBC)