Ukraine’s top security official, Oleksiy Danilov, has told the BBC that his country’s investigators had already gathered evidence that a missile brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet, before Iran changed its position.
After initially denying responsibility, Tehran has admitted that Ukraine International Airlines flight PS-752 crashed as a result of “human error” when it was misidentified as a cruise missile.
See also: The Iranian missile system suspected of bringing down the Ukrainian airliner
The United States, Canada and Australia said they had intelligence indicating that was the case.
Iran has admitted “unintentionally” shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.
An investigation found that “missiles fired due to human error”, President Hassan Rouhani said. He described the crash as an “unforgivable mistake”.
The military said the jet turned towards a sensitive site belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and was then mistaken for a cruise missile.
The downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on Wednesday came just hours after Iran carried out missile strikes on two airbases housing US forces in Iraq.
The strikes were a response to the killing of senior Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on 3 January.
Ukraine International Airlines vice-president Ihor Sosnovskiy has called Iran’s decision to keep civilian airspace open amid hostilities with the US “absolutely irresponsible”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said his Government will provide more than $8,000 in financial compensation to the families of its citizens who perished in the crash, and will also push Iran to provide separate compensation.
Mr Zelenskiy said he had also spoken on the phone with Mr Rouhani, who promised to prosecute those responsible.
“We will return all those dead to their families,” Mr Zelenskiy said.
“All the culprits will be punished.”
