Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Denies Dy FM’s Hijacking Claim
KABUL: The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has denied an earlier report from the deputy foreign minister claiming that armed hijackers took control of a Ukrainian evacuation plane and flew it to Iran.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry has denied an earlier report from the deputy foreign minister claiming that armed hijackers took control of a Ukrainian evacuation plane and flew it to Iran after it arrived in Afghanistan, according to Ukrainian news agency RBC.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin had alleged that a Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians had been hijacked by unidentified people who flew it into Iran. Iran’s aviation spokesman had also rejected reports of Ukrainian airliner being hijacked, flown to Iran
Russian news agency TASS quoted Yevgeny Yenin as saying “last Sunday, our plane was hijacked by other people. On Tuesday, the plane was practically stolen from us, it flew into Iran with an unidentified group of passengers on board instead of airlifting Ukrainians. Our next three evacuation attempts were also not successful because our people could not get into the airport,” he said.
He said the hijackers were armed, and underlined that the whole diplomatic service headed by Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba “had been working in the crash test mode” the whole week.
However, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran denied claims on hijacking of a Ukrainian plane, saying “this plane came to Mashhad airport (northeastern Iran) yesterday for refueling and after refueling, it left for Ukraine and arrived at Kiev airport at 21:50.”
It may be mentioned here that on Sunday, a military transport plane with 83 people onboard, including 31 Ukrainians, arrived from Afghanistan to Kiev. The presidential office reported that 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while foreign reporters and public figures who requested help were also evacuated. The office also added that around 100 Ukrainians are still expecting evacuating in Afghanistan.
