A Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team, which includes Australia, has named and issued international arrest warrants for those accused of providing the missile that struck the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane and killed all 298 people on board as it flew over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

Three Russians - Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov - and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko will face murder charges with a trial due to start in March next year.

Jane Malcolm, the daughter of Carol Clancy and step-daughter of Michael Clancy, said she was glad the four were charged with murder.

"On one hand I was expecting the charges because I had already been briefed but actually looking at their faces was a shock," she said.

"I am grateful to the investigations team who have put in so much work to get to this stage.

"It has been five years. I'm glad investigators have not given up.

"The charges are the best I could hope for."

A trial in absentia is likely because Russia and Ukraine do not extradite nationals to face criminal proceedings.

A Buk missile that shot down the plane came from Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade. The men are believed to have brought the missile over the border from Russia.

Read more: Son hopes MH17 trial will expose Russia

Ms Malcolm, who lives in Sydney, said she hoped the "rule of law prevailed" and facts and evidence were present in court.

"My parents should be enjoying their retirement with their grandchildren, who they never met. It is sad," she said.

"It has been very difficult sitting around waiting for answers."

Ms Malcolm said she and all the other families of victims had to endure "lies" from the Russian government.

"The information has been complete nonsense for the past five years," she said. "There was always a different story from the Russian government.

"It is not enough that they killed my parents but they have also tortured us for five years."

The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and how the world reacted to the atrocity.

July 17 - Flight MH17, heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashes in Ukraine's disputed Donetsk region. Debris falls on an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

July 19 - Ukraine says it has evidence that Russia was at least partially responsible, likely by providing an anti-aircraft missile system to shoot down the plane.

July 21 - Separatists hand flight recorders from the crash site to international investigators. Russia says it has evidence that a Ukrainian warplane might have shot down the carrier.

September 9 - Dutch aviation officials issue a preliminary report saying the crash was most likely caused by a large number of small, high-energy objects hitting the plane, apparent evidence of a missile strike.

October 13 - A report by Dutch investigators says the plane was downed by a Buk anti-aircraft missile, apparently fired from rebel-held territory.

October 14 - Russian aviation officials say the plane could have been shot down from territory controlled by the Ukrainian military.

May 21 - An Australian law firm files a compensation claim in the European Court of Human Rights against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia, on behalf of five families who lost loved ones.

June 6 - A Dutch-led team of international investigators, including from Australia, say part of a Russian-made Buk missile has been found in wreckage from the crash.

September 28 - The same international team concludes the plane was shot down by a Buk missile taken into the conflict zone from Russia.

July 6 - The Dutch government, with support of Australia and other investigating nations, says it will prosecute suspects in The Hague if there's enough evidence.

May 24 - International investigators conclude the Buk missile that shot down the plane came from Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade.

May 25 - Australia's then foreign minister Julie Bishop says the only reasonable conclusion to draw "is that Russia was directly involved in the downing of MH17". Australia seeks to open talks with Russia, to hold the nation to account for the atrocity.

September 17 - Russia claims the missile was sent to Soviet Ukraine after it was made in 1986 and it never returned to Russia.

June 19 - Dutch prosecutors charge Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonie Kharachenko over the mass killing. A trial in absentia is likely with the two countries unlikely to give up the men.

- Moscow rejects the charges against the three Russians as "absolutely unfounded".

- The families of Australian victims say justice must be done, and lies must be exposed, but the trial of the four men cannot change the tragedy brought upon them.

Australian Associated Press