ROZSYPNE, Ukraine — An international team of investigators in eastern Ukraine today reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17 for the first time.

Fighting along the route to the wreckage site between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had for several days kept the delegation from reaching the area.

A rifle-toting militiaman at a checkpoint on the approach to the crash site at the village of Rozsypne allowed investigators clear passage, but fired a warning shot to keep reporters from proceeding any further.

Police and forensic experts from the Netherlands and Australia were expected to initially focus their efforts on retrieving bodies still on the site and collecting victims’ belongings.

A delegation from Russia’s state aviation body said it also hoped to visit the site, an agency spokesman said today.