Kyiv: Ukraine is trying to obtain black boxes of downed Ukrainian aircraft from Iran
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) are working to ensure the transfer to the Ukrainian side of the "black boxes" of the Ukraine International Airlines aircraft which was shot down in Iran, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko at a press conference after a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.
"When we say that they [Iranians] must hand over or, say, examine the content [of the black boxes] without delay, we have in mind a reasonable period. In our view and also all five nations and established practices in general, we can talk about one month when this nation [Iran] is given the right to try to obtain information and share with the investigation teams. More than a month has passed so far, and we believe that we have sufficient grounds to say that Iran does not have adequate technical, human and other capabilities to retrieve the information we need," the minister said, as cited by Interfax-Ukraine.
In this regard, Prystsko noted, the Foreign Ministry and the National Security Council are actively working to obtain the "black boxes" of the downed UIA aircraft. "Ukraine should get these black boxes to help with the investigation, and finally establish the truth," he said.
He added that the work would be completed shortly, and the results would be reported.
Earlier, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said it was impossible to decipher the "black boxes" of the downed Ukrainian plane without the help of Western experts.
A Ukraine International Airlines plane making a regular flight from Tehran to Kyiv crashed in Iran on the morning of January 8. 176 people from seven countries were killed, including 11 Ukrainians (nine crew members and two passengers).
Three days after the catastrophe, Iran admitted that it had inadvertently shot down the plane using a cruise missile. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has taken responsibility for the incident.