Russia’s Investigative Committee says it has recovered body parts with tattoos like those on captured Ukrainians that Moscow’s forces had interrogated.

It claims this proves that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on the plane that crashed on Tuesday. 

It said it also collected “documents of Ukrainian servicemen who died in the disaster, confirming their identities, as well as accompanying documents from the federal penitentiary service of Russia”.

The claims have not been verified, and Russia has been accused by Western leaders and Ukraine of deception. 

Russia has sole access to the crash site, despite calls from Ukraine’s ombudsman to allow a team from Kyiv to examine the evidence. 

The Investigative Committee previously accused Ukraine of attacking the plane with an anti-aircraft missile, which Kyiv is yet to outright confirm or deny.