France invites Ukrainian experts to download ‘black boxes’ of UIA plane

France has invited Ukraine to participate in the download and analysis of the "black boxes" of the UIA plane shot down in Iran earlier this year.

"Today, Ukraine has received an invitation from France to send our experts to participate in the download of ‘black boxes’ of PS752, which (according to Iran's preliminary promises) should be delivered in Lyon on July 20 this year," Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin posted on Facebook.

Ukraine's task is to ensure the maximum level of international recognition of the facts of illegal interference in the case of PS752 flight, Yenin stressed.

"It will bring us all closer to justice and decent compensation to families of the victims!" the deputy minister summarized.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after it took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner. It emerged later that the UIA plane had been shot down by two missiles of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which Iran received from Russia.

At the ICAO Council meeting on June 26, the Iranian representatives agreed to send flight recorders to France for download and analysis by July 20.

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