France is ready to help Ukraine analyze the black boxes of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752, which was downed in Iran on January 8.
"France's position regarding the opportunity to analyze the black boxes in France is quite positive. I've officially informed Ukraine's Foreign Ministry about this. If there is a request from the Ukrainian side, we are ready," French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins has said, according to the news portal hromadske.
France was also affected by the tragedy, the ambassador said.
"The presidents of France and Ukraine were in contact regarding this issue, and Ukraine can count on France's help if there is a request for transporting the black boxes to France. We have one of the best labs in the world to read black boxes. We have technical capabilities and the political will to do this," he said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Kyiv-bound UIA flight PS752 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport in the early hours of January 8. It was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members on board. Two passengers and the crew members were Ukrainians. There were also 82 citizens of Iran, 63 citizens of Canada, 10 citizens of Sweden, four citizens of Afghanistan, three citizens of Germany and the United Kingdom each. There were no survivors.
On January 11, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially admitted that the Ukrainian airliner had been shot down by accident as a result of a "human error" and that those responsible would be held accountable.
On Sunday, February 2, intercepted communications between Tehran Airport's air traffic control tower and the second pilot of Iran's Aseman Airlines flight at the time of the crash of flight PS752 were released by TSN.Tyzhden.
Tehran blamed the Ukrainian authorities for leaking what it described as confidential evidence, and said it would no longer share material with Ukraine from the investigation into the crash.
