Talks with Iran on black boxes from downed Ukrainian plane ongoing - Kuleba
He said this during an online briefing on Friday, April 3, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
"Talks with Iran are ongoing. [...] We are working to gain control of the black boxes. There are now two tracks: the first is diplomatic and legal, where we negotiate with Iran and discuss the legal aspects of resolving this tragic situation. The second track is aviation and technical this is what the commission on air accidents investigation is doing," Kuleba said.
He added that in addition to talks with Iran, Ukraine is consulting with international partners, first and foremost, with Canada.
"Our number one goal is to get the boxes. Goal number two is to clearly write out and agree with Iran the mechanism for bearing legal responsibility for this tragedy. Step number three will be the implementation of the agreements reached," the minister said.
The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking 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.
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