A fragment of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 will be handed over to crash investigators, after a Russian veterans group cancelled plans to display it in a new museum dedicated to Soviet military victory.

According to Russian news reports, the fragment of the Boeing 777 had been delivered to the town of Yeisk in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, for a new exhibition celebrating the end of World War 2.

Veterans group Combat Brotherhood said they intended the exhibit as 'proof' that Ukraine separatists did not shoot down the plane in July last year, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board including 38 Australians.

However, the move drew criticism from Dutch investigators who have been gathering wreckage of the plane to establish the cause of the crash.

The head of the Combat Brotherhood told Business Yeisk the fragment had been sent to them by locals at the crash site, in gratitude for humanitarian aid and "to deliver to the public the horrors taking place (in the region)".

However, the group had "realised that all the pieces of the aircraft are physical evidence", the news site reported, and decided to return it to Ukraine and recommend it be handed over to the international investigators.