KIEV, July 31. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, at an extraordinary meeting on Thursday approved the draft law on ratification of the Ukrainian-Australian agreement on the deployment of Australian personnel in Ukraine for the investigation of the Malaysian Boeing 777 airliner’s (Flight MH17) crash, a Ukrainian MP told ITAR-TASS.

The Ukrainian-Australian agreement on sending Australia’s personnel to Ukraine to secure the MH17 crash probe was signed on July 25. Under the agreement, Australia can send its police, military and civilian personnel to Ukraine. “The personnel are allowed to carry arms and use force as needed for fulfilling their tasks, including firing for effect in self-defense,” says the agreement.

Australia plans to send to Ukraine up to 250 armed personnel.

On July 17, the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger airliner on flight MH17 from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk Region, killing all 298 people on board.