Police officers from a joint Dutch-Australian search and recovery mission examine debris from MH17 at the plane's main crash site in eastern Ukraine on Friday, in an effort to recover remains of victims. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Police officers from the Netherlands and Australia on Friday finally started salvage operations in the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, after having passage to the area repeatedly frustrated due to ongoing fighting.

This came as the Ukrainian military said an overnight ambush by insurgents in the city of Shakhtarsk, 25 kilometers from the main impact site, left 14 people dead, including at least 10 soldiers, AFP reported Friday.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) convoy of 14 vehicles, which includes a bus transporting Australian and Dutch police officers, left for the center of Donetsk, a rebel stronghold, at around 7:20 am Friday.

The joint Dutch-Australian police team includes around 80 officers.

It took the convoy more than four hours' driving to reach the crash site, which is still held by rebels.

Safe passage to the area has been blocked due to ongoing conflicts in Shakhtarsk and the town of Torez, which are en route to the site.

The OSCE made several failed attempts and finally reached the site with the heads of the Dutch and Australian police teams Thursday.

Along the route, the convoy first left rebel-held territory near Yasynuvata and drove into government-held areas. It later traveled past the government area and re-entered rebel-held land to reach the site.

On the way to the site, traces of fighting in the past few days were apparent. Burning fields, a destroyed gas station, damaged rail tracks, vehicles and fragments of artillery shells were visible along the route.

The Global Times reporter saw numerous fortifications in both the government controlled and rebel-held areas.

After reaching the site, officers observed a minute of silence before salvaging the remains of victims.

Australian commander Brian McDonald said they will be bringing in more assistance in the coming days, including sniffer dogs.

However, he added that they have to conduct day-by-day assessments due to the volatile situation and couldn't give a definitive date for the operation's conclusion.