First aerial images emerge showing the 8 square miles of devastation caused by shot down MH17

The first aerial pictures of the MH17 crash site have emerged, laying bare the breathtaking scale of the disaster that claimed the lives of 298 innocents.

The stills, taken from the skies over the village of Grabovo in eastern Ukraine, show the scorched earth at the point of impact and gives an idea of how much more severe the devastation could have been had it come down in the nearby family homes.

Grabovo is controlled by pro-Russian rebels, widely suspected of shooting the plane out of the sky on Thursday afternoon. The pictures emerged as the train carrying the bodies of all of the victims of Flight MH17 finally set off after four days in situ.

It comes amid uproar over the treatment of the corpses, which have lain in the baking summer heat since Thursday.

Finally, after repeated calls from leaders to speed up the chaotic clean-up operation, officials at the site in eastern Ukraine have agreed to hand over the bodies to the Dutch at 7pm today.

The train pulled away from a station in Torez, nine miles from the rebel-held field where the Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down by a missile.

Today President Barack Obama rebuked Russian President Vladmir Putin today for not using his influence to stop Russian backed separatists in Ukraine from 'tampering' with evidence at the site of the MH17 crash.

Speaking from South Lawn of the White House, the U.S. president said it's Putin's 'responsibility' to compel the rebels to cease removing bodies from the area and allow investigators to have 'immediate and full access' to the site so they can conduct a thorough investigation.

'That's the least that we can do. That's the least that dignity demands,' he said. 

'All of this goes to say, "what have they got to hide?" Obama asked at one point in his remarks. 'This is an insult to those who have lost loved ones.'

Reports claim it is heading for the rebel-held town of Ilovaysk, 50 miles west of Torez.The United Nations Security Council will later today vote on a resolution tabled by the UK and Australia demanding 'safe, full and unfettered access' to the crash site for international investigators and for the bodies of victims - many of which are currently being held in refrigerated train carriages - to be handled with respect and dignity.