SINGAPORE: Five nations whose citizens died when an airliner was shot down by Iran last week will meet in London on Thursday to discuss possible legal action, Ukraine’s foreign minister told Reuters.
Speaking at the sidelines of an official visit to Singapore on Monday, Vadym Prystaiko said the countries would also discuss compensation and the investigation into the incident. All 176 people on board the flight died in the crash on Wednesday, minutes after the plane took off from Tehran airport.
Prystaiko said suggestions from Iran that the Ukrainian International Airlines plane was downed as it flew near a sensitive military base during a time of heightened tensions were “nonsense.” He said Tehran had agreed to hand over the plane’s black boxes to Kiev for investigation.
“We have created this group of foreign ministers from the grieving nations. On Jan 16, we will meet in person in London to discuss the ways, including legal, how we are following this up, how we are prosecuting them (Iran),” Prystaiko said.
He said the five nations also included Canada — which had at least 57 passport holders aboard the doomed flight — Sweden, Afghanistan and a fifth country which he did not name. Canada has previously said that these four countries and Britain had established a coordination group to support victims’ families.
Many on board were Iranians with dual citizenship.
After days of denials, Iran said on Saturday its military had shot down the plane in a “disastrous mistake.” Prystaiko said Ukraine was not informed by Iran that it would be taking responsibility before that public announcement.
Tehran said its air defenses were fired in error while on alert after Iranian missile strikes on US targets in Iraq, and that the airliner was mistaken for a “hostile target” after it turned toward a sensitive military base of the elite Revolutionary Guards near Tehran.
“This is nonsense because our plane was recorded and confirmed — was going within the international route which was given by the dispatchers...Nothing was extraordinary,” Prystaiko said, adding that investigators said the pilot’s last words were “everything is ok on board and I am switching to auto pilot.”
“I have seen this information on media that our plane changed the route...Yes, because it was hit by rocket! It was already dying.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a rare step, apologized to the nation and accepted full responsibility. Senior Guards commander Amirali Hajjizadeh said he had informed Iran’s authorities on Wednesday about the unintentional strike, a comment that raised questions about why officials had publicly denied it for so long.
Prystaiko said all involved had to be held to account.
“What we don’t want is somebody like the soldier, very low level, to be pointed and told that that is the guy who pushed the button ...This is the Iranian government’s responsibility,” he said, speaking in English.
“We have to dig out who gave the order, who pushed the button. Everything ... all these people should be punished.”
He said that Ukrainian investigators — many of whom were involved when a Malaysian airliner was shot down over eastern Ukrainian territory held by Russia-backed separatists in 2014 — should be central to the investigation.
“We want to have the full investigation of the recordings on the black boxes themselves to be done by Ukrainian specialists,” he said, adding that France and the aircraft manufacturer Boeing should also be involved.
“They (Iran) committed to give it (black boxes) to us. What we are not having is a particular date when it will happen. We are pushing for immediate release of the black boxes.”
Ukraine: ‘Grieving nations’ to discuss legal action against Iran over downed airliner
https://arab.news/4xeke
Ukraine: ‘Grieving nations’ to discuss legal action against Iran over downed airliner
- Countries would also discuss compensation and the investigation into the incident
- Tehran had agreed to hand over the plane’s black boxes to Kiev for investigation
Progress for Ukraine talks in Paris uncertain with US focus shifting to Venezuela
- Ukraine’s allies are meeting in Paris to discuss security guarantees after a potential ceasefire with Russia. The Trump administration’s focus on Venezuela could complicate progress
- France and the UK lead efforts to strengthen post-ceasefire defenses for Ukraine, possibly with European forces
PARIS: Ukraine’s allies are meeting Tuesday in Paris for key talks that could help determine the country’s security after a potential ceasefire with Russia. But prospects for progress are uncertain with the Trump administration’s focus shifting to Venezuela.
Before the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, French President Emmanuel Macron had expressed optimism about the latest gathering of so-called “coalition of the willing” nations. For months, they have been exploring how to deter any future Russian aggression should it agree to stop fighting Ukraine.
In a Dec. 31 address, Macron said that allies would “make concrete commitments” at the summit “to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace.”
Macron’s office said Tuesday’s meeting will gather an unprecedented number of officials attending in person, with 35 participants including 27 heads of state and government. The US will be represented by President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Macron’s office said the US delegation was initially set to be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who changed his plans for reasons related to the military intervention in Venezuela.
Participants seek concrete outcomes on five key priorities once fighting ends: ways to monitor a ceasefire; support for Ukraine’s armed forces; deployment of a multinational force on land, at sea and in the air; commitments in case there’s another Russian aggression; and long-term defense cooperation with Ukraine.
But whether that’s still achievable Tuesday isn’t so clear now, as Trump deals with the aftermath of his decision to effect leadership change in Venezuela.
Ukraine seeks firm guarantees from Washington of military and other support seen as crucial to securing similar commitments from other allies. Kyiv has been wary of any ceasefire that it fears could provide time for Russia to regroup and attack again.
Recent progress in talks
Before the US military operation targeting Maduro, Witkoff had indicated progress in talks about protecting and reassuring Ukraine.
In a Dec. 31 post, Witkoff tweeted that “productive” discussions with him, Rubio, and Kushner on the US side and, on the other, national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine had focused on “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart.”
France, which with the United Kingdom has coordinated the monthslong, multination effort to shore up a ceasefire, has only given broad-brush details about the plan’s scope. It says Ukraine’s first line of defense against a Russian resumption of war would be the Ukrainian military and that the coalition intends to strengthen it with training, weaponry and other support.
Macron has also spoken of European forces potentially being deployed away from Ukraine’s front lines to help deter future Russian aggression.
Important details unfinalized
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said during the weekend that potential European troop deployments still face hurdles, important details remain unfinalized, and “not everyone is ready” to commit forces.
He noted that many countries would need approval from parliament even if leaders agreed to military support for Ukraine. But he recognized that support could come in forms other than troops, such as “through weapons, technologies and intelligence.”
Zelensky said that post-ceasefire deployments in Ukraine by Britain and France, Western Europe’s only nuclear-armed nations, would be “essential” because some other coalition members ”cannot provide military assistance in the form of troops, but they do provide support through sanctions, financial assistance, humanitarian aid and so on.”
“Speaking frankly as president, even the very existence of the coalition depends on whether certain countries are ready to step up their presence,” Zelensky said. “If they are not ready at all, then it is not really a ‘coalition of the willing.’”
