Ex-Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov has said responsibility for the downed Boeing 737 aircraft of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) should be borne by the leadership of not only Iran, but also Russia.
“This is the second Boeing passenger plane that has been recently destroyed by a Russian missile. And just like in the case of the Malaysian plane, the Russian leadership in its official statements tried not only to support Iran as its strategic partner, but also to misinform the international community, inventing false versions of this terrible tragedy,” he said on Facebook on Jan. 11.
Turchynov said Ukraine should immediately demand an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council in order to ensure an objective investigation into the disaster and hold accountable not only the leadership of Iran, but also their military ally – Russia.
He emphasized that “Russia systematically supports terrorism and, in violation of international sanctions, has delivered deadly weapons to Iran, trained military specialists, and it is possible that it provided direct assistance in preparing for the Jan. 8 missile attack.”
As previously reported, the Iranian media, citing a statement by the General Staff of the Iranian armed forces, said that the Ukrainian Boeing was shot down by mistake by the Iranian military.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the crash of the Ukrainian plane “a great tragedy” and “an unforgivable mistake.”
“An internal investigation by the Armed Forces concluded that, unfortunately, missiles fired due to human error led to the downing of the Ukrainian plane and the death of 176 innocent people,” the Iranian president said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine expects the Iranian side to fully acknowledge its guilt and bring the investigation to an end.
As reported, Boeing 737-800 flight PS752 from Tehran to Kyiv caught fire in mid-air and came down near Tehran’s International Imam Khomeini Airport shortly after takeoff early morning on Jan. 8. The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members, including eleven Ukrainians (including the nine crew members), 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons. There were no survivors.
