Calls to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter from the Netherlands over flight MH17 have fallen flat, with many noting that their Argentine-born queen has not been punished for her father's junta past.

Despite calls from Ukrainian activists and right-wing Dutch newspapers for Maria Putin, 29, to be punished for her father's alleged role in bringing down flight MH17, most here noted that you cannot blame a child for the sins of his or her father.

Russia has begun supplying military helicopters and fighters jets to Iraq, a report said Thursday, as Iraq's defense minister visited Moscow to press for equipment to thwart a jihadist offensive.

"A number of contracts with Iraq have entered into force and are being fulfilled," the Interfax news agency quoted a source in Russia's defense export establishment as saying.

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels raged Thursday near the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17, as experts in Britain begin analyzing crucial data from the downed airliner's black boxes.

A Dutch team leading the probe into the downing of MH17 was stuck in Kiev, unable to join a handful of international investigators at the site, after two warplanes were shot down Wednesday just 45 kilometers from the impact scene in insurgent-held territory.

A senior Russian official called Thursday on the United States to prove its claims that the Malaysian passenger airliner shot down last week was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine.

"They've said U.S. intelligence has technical data and satellite photos which show that the missile was launched from rebel-held territory. The question is where is this data", Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with Russia-24 television.

The United States, India and Japan are set to kick off week-long war games in the Pacific, beefing up naval ties as they warily eye an increasingly assertive China and its military buildup.

Warships from the three countries are to begin the joint exercises on Friday, after an official opening ceremony at the Sasebo Naval Base in southern Japan on Thursday.

Criminal charges were filed Wednesday against six people in what authorities said was a global cyber-crime ring that created fraudulent e-tickets for major concerts and sporting events.

Iraq's defense minister flew to Moscow on Wednesday to ask his counterpart for military equipment, as his forces struggle to hold off a jihadist-led Sunni militant offensive, a spokesman said.

"Defense Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi left Baghdad for Moscow," Staff Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Askari told Agence France Presse.

A British journalist reporting for a Russian television channel from conflict-torn eastern Ukraine went missing on Wednesday, with Moscow alleging he and another journalist were captured by Kiev's troops.

Graham Phillips, a British national who works as a stringer for state-owned channel RT (formerly Russia Today), went to cover intense fighting around Donetsk airport Tuesday, but RT has had no contact with him since the early hours of Wednesday, it said.

Rolling hills, sleepy villages and the crackle of gunfire: the area where two Ukrainian fighter jets were downed on Wednesday is a surreal warzone near the flight MH17 crash site.

While OSCE monitors examined the abandoned debris from the Malaysia Airlines plane, the fighting raged some 45 kilometers (25 miles) to the south near Savur Mogila -- an ancient holy site and World War II monument.

Ukraine's western-backed government said Wednesday that it was preparing to slap sanctions on Russia for backing pro-Moscow separatists in the ex-Soviet state.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said a special committee had been set up to draw up a raft of economic sanctions against any Russian individuals, officials or companies accused of supporting rebels battling government troops in the east of the country.