Raw Footage: Planes Carrying 40 Bodies of MH17 Victims Arrive in Netherlands

Bodies of some MH17 victims get somber send-off from Ukraine (CNN)

In a somber ceremony both moving and meaningful, white-gloved Ukrainian soldiers Wednesday respectfully carried the bodies of passengers killed in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to an airplane that would fly them home to a waiting Dutch king and queen, and a grieving nation on an official day of mourning.

The nearly martial honors afforded the remains on a sunny tarmac in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv contrasted sharply with how they were first treated in death -- first blown out of the sky by a suspected surface-to-air missile, then allowed to remain exposed to the elements for days. In some cases, furious Dutch officials say, they were stripped of their personal belongings.

Two military aircraft carrying 40 bodies arrived in the Dutch city of Eindhoven shortly before 4 p.m. (10 a.m. ET). A lone bugler was to mark the arrival, followed by a minute of silence across the nation. Families of the dead and Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were to be on hand.