Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Olexiy Danilov said that the UIA plane crash over Tehran in 2020 has all the signs of a terrorist attack. Danilov said this in an interview with the Voice of America.
"What happened on January 8th, 2020, was a terrorist act committed against a civilian aircraft. We have the impression that they [the Iranians] had been waiting specifically for our plane. We can assume this Perhaps it was an order from senior management. No operator can make such a decision on his own", said Danilov.
The NSDC secretary also expressed disappointment that Iran refused to cooperate in the investigation and payment of compensation for the downed flight PS752 of Ukraine International Airlines.
A UIA Boeing 737-800 passenger plane, which was supposed to perform flight PS752 on the Tehran-Kyiv route, crashed near Imam Khomeini International Airport near Tehran immediately after takeoff on the morning of January 8, 2020. There were 167 passengers on board: 82 citizens of Iran, 63 - Canada, 10 - Sweden, 4 - Afghanistan, 3 each - Germany and Great Britain. The Ukrainians were nine crew members and two passengers. They all died.
Iran only three days later admitted that the country's military "by mistake" shot down Boeing. Negotiations between Ukraine and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the investigation of the tragedy and compensation for the downed plane have continued since July 2020.
In December 2020, Iran announced that the government would pay $ 150,000 to the families of each of the 176 victims. This statement was sharply criticized by Ukrainian and Canadian officials, saying that the amount of compensation could not be decided unilaterally.
Soon, Ukraine, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom criticized Iran for refusing to join negotiations with the International Group for Coordination and Assistance to Victims of the Downed Flight PS752. Foreign ministries of Canada, Sweden, Great Britain and Ukraine said that Iran refuses to negotiate damages.
