Ukrainian Defense Ministry plane to return from Iran with bodies of Ukrainians - NSDC

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry plane will return from Tehran only after all procedures have been completed and when it will be possible to take the bodies of all 11 Ukrainian citizens killed in the January 8 downing of a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet, National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksiy Danilov has said on Facebook.

According to him, if necessary, additional forces will be sent to Tehran and they will work as long as necessary.

A Ukraine International Airlines plane (flight PS752), en route from Tehran to Kyiv, crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport early on January 8. There were 176 people on board the aircraft. All of them died. The crash killed 11 Ukrainians (two passengers and all nine crew), as well as Iranians, Canadians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans, and Britons.

Iran initially claimed that the plane had crashed due to an engine failure. However, early on January 11, Iran stated that it had shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane by accident. The aircraft took off from the airport and was seen as an enemy target as it came close to an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps base.

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