SEPANG, July 30 — Malaysia has sent a team of 68 police officers to aid international investigations into the downing of flight MH17 even as civil war cuts off access to the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said it is important for Malaysia to be an active participant in the probe, since the downed jetliner belongs to national carrier. Malaysia Airlines.

“We need to register our presence there, because we need to show the world that we mean business in finding out who is responsible for this,” he said at a press conference with Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi late today.

Khalid said the Malaysian team will be tasked with securing and gathering physical evidence from the crash site, but could not say how long they will remain in Ukraine due to the on-going armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russia separatists.

It is now close to two weeks since flight MH17 was brought down over Crimean airspace on July 17, killing all 298 passengers and crew aboard.

It is widely believed that the plane, which was en-route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was shot down using a medium range missile.