train
(A pro-Russian armed fighter stands in guard on the platform as a refrigerated train loaded with bodies of the passengers departs the station in Torez, eastern Ukraine, 15 kilometers from the crash site of MH17, Monday, July 21, 2014 - AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

The train carrying the bodies of those who died in the downing of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 has started its journey to the city of Kharkiv through Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

This was according to a statement posted on the official website of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"The president commanded the armed forces to take all the necessary steps to ensure the security of the train until arrival at its destination," it said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had earlier said that six Malaysian members of the recovery team would join the train journey.

He indicated that from Kharkiv, the remains of 282 people would be handed over to representatives from the Netherlands and then flown to Amsterdam on board a Dutch C130 Hercules plane, together with the Malaysian team.

Located in northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv is the second largest city of the country.

The Malaysian Boeing 777 jetliner with 298 people aboard was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down Thursday in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.