KIEV: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky asked Iran to pay compensation and punish those responsible for shooting down the Ukrainian aircraft that killed 176 people who were aboard the plane, a few hours after Tehran admitted it had shot down the aircraft mistakenly, foreign media said.
Zelensky asked Iran “to bring the guilty to the courts” and returns the remains of the victims as well as pay compensation for the crash.
A Ukrainian plane had been shot down last Wednesday a few hours after it took off from an airport in Tehran. The crash followed a surprise attack by Iran at two military bases in Iraq that housed US troops.
Seeking an official apology, the Ukrainian president demanded complete access to 45 experts from his country to complete an investigation into the crash. He hoped the inquiry will be held in a transparent manner.
“We hope the inquiry will be pursued without deliberate delay and without obstruction,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine had revealed that its experts sent to Iran had been provided access to the black boxes, debris from the plane, the crash site and to recordings of conversations between the pilot and the airport control tower.
The majority of passengers on UIA Flight PS752 from Tehran to Kiev were Iranian-Canadian dual nationals but also included Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes
Many in Kiev have compared the crash to the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 killing 298 people over eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are fighting government forces.
Western countries, led by the US and Canada, had been saying since the past couple of days they were suspicious Iran had mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian airliner. Tehran initially denied reports it had accidentally downed the plane, however, on Saturday, a statement from the military admitted it had downed the aircraft after mistaking it for a ‘hostile plane’ at a time when tensions were high between the Washington and Tehran.
At least 80 people were reportedly killed by Iranian missiles targeting US military bases in Iraq, Iranian news network Press Tv said.
Read more: Iran admits shooting down Ukrainian passenger jet, but unintentionlly
