Relatives of the 298 people who died when a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over Ukraine in 2014 on Monday asked judges presiding over the Dutch murder trial looking at the crash to provide clarity over the alleged role of Russia in the incident.

Piet Ploeg, whose brother, sister-in-law and nephew died in the crash, told judges to look specifically at Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict.

"We want to know what happened, why it happened and who was...