UKRAINIAN Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told parliament today that it needs to come up with more money to pay the mounting costs from the war against anti-Kiev separatists.

Mr Yatsenyuk, who offered his resignation last Thursday over the issue but is still in office pending its acceptance, urged parliament to amend this year’s budget to raise an additional 9.1 billion hryvnias (£450 million).

Britain and the EU have already loaned Kiev millions since the fascist-backed coup in February.

He called on MPs to take part in an extraordinary plenary session on Thursday and pass the laws, saying the failure to do that last week amounted to “a breakdown of our programmes with the IMF and the World Bank.”

Mr Yatsenyuk said the government would raise some of the money through a 1.5 per cent war tax on incomes and by eliminating supplementary compensation for public officials.

Parliament will also hold a vote of confidence in him, which could open the way to new elections.

Meanwhile, an international police team failed to reach the crash site of a Malaysian Airlines plane for a second day running as clashes rage in the area.

A delegation of Australian and Dutch police and forensic experts was halted in Shakhtarsk, a town around 20 miles from the fields where the aircraft came down.

Sounds of regular shelling could be heard from Shakhtarsk and residents were fleeing in cars as parts of the town were hit by artillery.

And in the surrounding area at least eight civilians died in fighting and shelling in two cities held by rebels.

Authorities in Lugansk said five people were killed and 15 injured by overnight artillery strikes.

Three were killed in Donetsk as a result of clashes, the city’s government said.

Territory between the cities has seen intensified fighting as government troops try to gain control of the area. Both sides have traded accusations over the mounting civilian death toll.

The armed conflict that has been raging for more than three months, leaving more than 1,100 dead and displacing more than 200,000 people.