London: Ukraine's Prime Minister has said those guilty for the downing of MH17 must be punished, despite sending a key witness to Russia, putting him out of reach of international investigators who will try four men over the downing of the plane in 2014.

Ukraine exchanged 58-year old Volodymyr Tsemakh in a mass prisoner swap with Russia in September as part of the new government's attempts to end the long-running feud between the two countries.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was recently awarded in London, was among 35 prisoners freed by Russia in return.

A file photo shows the wreckage of the MH17 near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine. 298 people lost their lives.Credit:AFP

Asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age to explain to the victims of MH17, why the Tsemakh was returned to Russia, out of the reach of Dutch prosecutors, Ukraine's Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk blamed Russia for the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane.

The tragedy claimed the lives of 298 people, including 41 Australians.

"Definitely all the guilty ones must be punished," Honcharuk told the Chatham House think tank in London.

"I just want everybody to understand here, all those developments of the past and all those tragedies is a big bad thing that happened to Ukraine."

"It is a story for ourselves about how the international and global order was breached.

"And actually this order must be restored through sanctions and coordinated action of all the important actors around the world."

"And therefore actually when we talk about any single event or something happening we need to understand the broader context and in understanding this general context we need to learn how to call ‘a spade a spade," he said, speaking through a translator.

The Ukrainian government's decision to participate in the swap angered the Australian government, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne at the time expressing "deep concern" at the exchange because it would make the likelihood of Tsemakh ever facing justice "more difficult."

The Russian Embassy in Australia responded with a statement saying the Australian government was exhibiting double-standards and repeated denials that Russia was directly involved in the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane.

The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team are prosecuting four men in a trial beginning in March next year, over the downing of the plane over eastern Ukraine, in which all 298 people on-board, including 38 Australian citizens and residents died.

While Tsemakh is not one of the four expected to be tried in absentia, prosecutors have wanted him for questioning. The investigative citizen journalist website Bellingcat said footage showed Tsemakh was “at minimum, an important eyewitness” to the downing of the aircraft.

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