SBU chief says Iran confirmed Ukraine's missile theory

11.01.2020 11:34

Ukrinform

The Iranian authorities' statement that the country's military had mistakenly shot down a Ukraine International Airlines aircraft confirmed the missile theory of the investigation, Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Bakanov has said.

"We considered the human factor to be the main cause of the crash - the operation of an anti-aircraft missile system manually rather than automatically, as some experts initially said. Yesterday, during a meeting of the SBU's special working group, we had two theories – the plane being hit by a rocket and a possible terrorist attack. Today, the Iranian side has confirmed the first theory," the SBU's press service quoted Bakanov as saying.

He once again expressed his condolences to the families and relatives of those killed in the UIA plane crash.

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet.

In this regard, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter that the crash had been caused by a "human error."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani apologized for the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane by the Iranian military, expressing his condolences to the families of the dead. He called the plane crash a disastrous mistake.

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), 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, ten Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans, and three Britons.