CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has sent 50 police to London in anticipation of deploying them to the Ukraine to secure the Malaysian plane crash site as part of a United Nations team.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the police pre-deployment on Thursday. He says foreign ministers of Australia and Netherlands are going to Kiev to seek a memorandum of understanding that will allow international police to secure the crash site in rebel-held east Ukraine.

He said: “We are ready to deploy Australian police to Ukraine to help secure the site as part of an international team under United Nations authority.”

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.