"Well, we had been hoping that the plane crash would lead to some sort of, perhaps, pause in the fighting. But we didn't see that", says Ole Solvang, a Human Rights Watch activist. "You know, it was almost the opposite". Now rebel presence is scattered throughout the region, manning main road checkpoints and overseeing activity in the central railway station. As the Ukrainian army attempts to seize the city back from its rebel occupiers, civilian casualties are becoming more common. "There has been too much shelling. It was just horrible", says a local woman trying to escape with her family. With journalists fired upon, tracing the path of the anti-aircraft missiles that downed MH17 proves impossible, and the search for remains at the crash site is suspended.

Produced by Dateline, SBS Australia