A critical stage in the trial of the four men accused of downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 is about to begin.
All 298 on board the passenger plane were killed, including 38 people who called Australia home, when it was shot down in Ukraine, over an area where Ukrainian government forces were fighting Russian-backed rebels.
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A pro-Russian rebel touches the MH17 wreckage at the 2014 crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine(AP)
Judges and lawyers in the trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian have visited the wreckage of the plane at a Dutch military air base.