Dutch authorities said recovery workers in rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine began to collect debris from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight on November 16, four months after the plane was brought down.
The operation is being carried out under the supervision of Dutch investigators and officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The operation is expected to take around 10 days.
Efforts to conduct investigations have been hampered amid continued fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Debris will first be collected at a location near the crash site before being taken to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and then to the Netherlands.
All 298 people on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed. Most of the victims were Dutch.
