As Russian authorities prepare for an international investigation into the downed Malaysian Airlines jetliner, grieving relatives of the 298 victims expressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday their heartbreak and contempt for the suspected pro-Russian rebels who took their loved ones away.

"Many thanks to the separatist leaders of Ukrainian government for the murder of my dear and only child," Hans de Borst, a Dutch man whose 17-year-old daughter was on Flight MH17, wrote in a letter to Putin, according to the New York Daily News.

De Borst's daughter Elsemiek and 192 other Dutch nationals died last Thursday when the Boeing 777 was shot down in a region in eastern Ukraine that is controlled by rebels. U.S. intelligence officials confirmed a surface-to-air missile was used to bring the plane down, but it is not yet known who is responsible for the tragedy.

De Borst said his daughter wanted to study engineering.

"She was looking forward to it! She is suddenly no more! From the air she was shot in a foreign country where a war is going on," the father wrote.

Other relatives slammed Putin for not doing enough to ensure the victims' bodies are returned home. Separatists have repeatedly thwarted attempts to access the crash site in the Donetsk region to recover the bodies.   

Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son died on Thursday along with his girlfriend, tried to describe the grim details of how the dead have been treated in the days after the crash.

"No words can describe it. Bodies are just lying there for three days in the hot sun. There are people who have this on their conscience. There are families who can never hold the body of a child or a mother," the mother said according to the Associated Press.

"Mr. Putin, send my children home," the mother said according to the Daily News. "Send them home. Please."