Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Ukraine has taken a tough stance in talks with Iran on the case of the downing of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 by the Iranian military in January 2020.
"Iran is a tough negotiator, but Ukraine is also a tough negotiator. We will not allow them to pay their way out and avoid justice in this story. If we were not a tough negotiator, Iran might have already achieved something. But we stick to our positions. And justice is inevitable. We will achieve it. It may take time," he told the Den (Day) newspaper in an interview.
"But I want to say Ukraine does not act on its own in this story. We have a partnership of the affected countries. We speak on their behalf and with a common position that should be coordinated," Kuleba said.
The minister stressed everything would be done to make justice in this case "inevitable."
Read alsoIran insists Ukraine provided with technical report on downed UIA planePS752 downing in Iran: Background
- On January 8, 2020, Kyiv-bound Boeing 737 passenger jet flight PS752, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, crashed in Iran shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport.
- All 176 people on board, including 11 Ukrainian nationals – nine crew and two passengers – were killed. Among victims are also citizens of Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK.
- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admitted that the Ukrainian liner had been shot down as a result of an unintentional "human error," and promised to bring those responsible to justice.
- On June 9, media reports said Iran had accused six persons in the PS752 downing case.
- On July 20, the flight recorders were delivered to Paris and decrypted on July 21.
- On July 24, it was reported that data from the black boxes had confirmed external interference with the aircraft's operation.
- On October 23, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin said Iran would pay compensation to the relatives of victims of the UIA flight PS752 crash, but the process might last up to two years.
- On December 9, however, Yenin said that Iran had withdrawn the offer to handle the payments to the families of those killed in the UIA plane crash.
- In the middle of December, Canada expressed its position on the Iranian investigation into the downing of the Ukrainian plane, saying it is not credible.
- On December 22, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that Iranian investigators, during a video conference, had provided representatives of other countries whose citizens were victims of the crash with a technical report on the UIA downing.
- On December 23, Yenin said that Ukraine had not received the report.
- On December 24, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed concern that Iran was delaying the negotiation process on the case of the downed Ukraine International Airlines plane. He noted that Ukraine had not received a technical report from Iran on the plane downed almost a year ago.
