A break in fighting around the crash site of a Malaysian airliner more than two weeks ago has allowed a team of international experts to search for human remains in the area for a second straight day.

About 70 Dutch and Australian investigators are back at the site Saturday as Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine uphold a cease-fire in the area.

On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he spoke by telephone with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, with Obama saying the United States remains deeply concerned about Moscow's increased support for separatists in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Obama said he discussed his preference for a diplomatic solution with the Russian leader.  However, Mr. Obama said there are limits to what the United States can do.

"Right now what we've done is impose sufficient costs on Russia that objectively speaking they should, President Putin should want to resolve this diplomatically," he said. "Get these sanctions lifted.  Get their economy growing again and have good relations with Ukraine; but sometimes people don't always act rationally and they don't always act based on their medium- or long-term interests.  That can't deter us though.  We just have to stay at it."

White House officials say the two leaders "agreed to keep open their channels of communication."

Russian officials said Putin told the U.S. president that fresh sanctions imposed on Russia for its support for the separatists were "counterproductive" and would cause "serious damage to bilateral cooperation and international stability."

Also Friday, several dozen international investigators began initial work at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine.

Investigators from the Netherlands and Australia along with officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe began combing an area now designated as a crime scene.

They are focusing on recovering several dozen bodies still missing and retrieving the belongings of the 298 people killed when Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down last month.  Most of the victims were Dutch.

Ukraine and Western governments blame rebels for the shootdown of the Boeing 777.  U.S. analysts say the jetliner was likely downed by pro-Russian separatists launching a Russian missile, thinking jetliner was a Ukrainian military aircraft.  There were no survivors.

Rebels intent on establishing autonomous republics near the Russian border have been battling Ukrainian troops for three months.

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Source: VOA News: War and Conflict