A Ukrainian plane that arrived in Kabul to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Afghanistan last week was reportedly hijacked by unidentified people and flown to Iran.
Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin claims that the plane had arrived in Kabul last Sunday to evacuate Ukrainians but it was stolen and flown to Iran on Tuesday. The plane has around 83 passengers on board, who are currently missing.
Yevgeny Yenin said, "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 onboard instead of airlifting Ukrainians. Our next three evacuation attempts were also not successful because our people could not get into the airport."
A Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians has been hijacked by unidentified people who flew it into Iran, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin says: Russian News Agency TASS pic.twitter.com/imHpp5bK6G
— ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2021
What exactly happened?
The deputy foreign minister of Ukraine has not informed about what happened to the plan and whether the nation will try to get it back. The plane though had landed in Kabul to evacuate Ukrainians, it did not airlift them and instead picked up an unidentified group of people.
According to Yenin, the hijackers were armed and the plane was practically stolen from them. He highlighted that a whole diplomatic service headed by Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba "had been working in the crash test mode" the whole week.
Iran denies Ukrainian plane was hijackedThe Iranian Civil Aviation Authority has denied that the Ukrainian plane was hijacked. The authority stated that the plane was refuelled in Mashhad and then it flew to Kiev. |
Background
A military transport plane with about 83 people including 31 Ukrainians arrived in Kiev, Ukrain on August 22, 2021. The presidential office released a statement saying that about 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while foreign reporters and public figures who had requested for help were also evacuated.
About 100 Ukrainians are still stranded in Afghanistan and are expecting to be evacuated.
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