Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Iran admitted shooting down a Ukrainian airline and killing all 176 people on board, called for assurances from Tehran “of readiness for a full and open investigation, bringing those responsible to justice, the return of the bodies of the dead, payment of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels.”
“We hope that the investigation will continue without artificial delays and obstacles,” Zelensky said. “Our 45 professionals need full access and engagement to establish justice.”
Zelensky’s Facebook post came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised an investigation to identify and prosecute those responsible for the missile strikes that shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.
Rouhani tweeted: “Armed Forces’ internal investigation has concluded that regrettably, missiles fired due to human error caused the horrific crash of the Ukrainian plane & death of 176 innocent people. Investigations continue to identify & prosecute this great tragedy & unforgivable mistake.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also acknowledged in a tweet that Iran had accidentally shot down the plane on Jan. 8, killing all 176 people aboard. Zarif blamed the U.S. for heightened tensions at the time of the crash.
His tweet: “A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of an internal investigation by Armed Forces: Human error at the time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism led to disaster. Our profound regrets, apologies, and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.”
Before acknowledging the attack, Iranian authorities, for the first three days after the disaster, were saying that a malfunction of the plane’s engine likely caused the crash. When Western governments said on Jan. 9, citing intelligence reports, that the plane was shot down by an Iranian missile, Iran initially dismissed it as a lie.
But late on Jan. 10, Iranian media reported, citing sources in the government, that Iran was going to admit the missile strike and blame it on the human error.
A photo published by the President’s Office of Ukraine shows the remains of the cockpit of the Ukrainian International Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 that was downed by an Iranian missile minutes after taking off from the Tehran airport on Jan. 8. (President's Office )
A statement by the Iranian Armed Forces on Jan. 11 said the plane was mistakenly shot after it changed course and started flying towards a military base. The statement blamed hostile U.S. military actions for a state of heightened alert, but also acknowledged the need for “fundamental reforms” to prevent such an occurrence in the future. It also promised a full report and to hold accountable those responsible for the loss of life.
Here’s a rough translation of the statement:
“The noble and revolutionary Iranian Islamic nation,
In the wake of the heartbreaking crash of a Boeing passenger plane, a Ukrainian airline that crashed in the early hours of Wednesday morning (Jan. 8), in the wake of a missile attack on the U.S. base of criminals and the possible impact of military action on the incident, the Armed Forces immediately set up an inspection team composed of technical and operational experts, independent of the State Aviation Authority, to investigate this possibility, and the results of the round-the-clock review are made available to the Honorable Iranian People:
1. Following the threats of President (Donald J. Trump) and the criminal America’s military commanders targeting a large number of targets in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the event of a counter-operation and in view of the unprecedented increase in air traffic in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces were prepared to respond to possible threats at the highest level.
2. In the hours after the missile strikes, US terrorist forces’ warplanes around the country increased, and some reports of airstrikes targeting strategic centers in the country were reported to numerous defense units and targets on some radar plates. Caused greater sensitivity in air defense complexes.
3. In such critical and critical conditions, Flight PS752 of the Ukrainian airlines departs from Imam Khomeini Airport and, while in rotation, is completely approaching a sensitive military center of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and at altitude and in form of a hostile flight. In these circumstances, the plane was accidentally hit by human error and, unfortunately, which unfortunately results in the martyrdom of dear compatriots and the death of a number of foreign nationals.
4. The Armed Forces staff, while expressing condolences and sympathy to the grieving families of other countries and the apologies for the human error, giving full assurance that the pursuit of fundamental reforms in the operational processes at the Armed Forces level can be repeated. Make such errors impossible and immediately report the culprit to the Armed Forces Judicial Organization in order to deal with any legal errors.
5. It was also announced that the relevant authorities in the Revolutionary Guards should, as soon as possible, present detailed explanations to the people of Iran.”
Ukrainian reactions
Yevhen Dykhne, president of the Ukrainian International Airlines, reacted to the statement saying he never believed that the crew error led to the disaster, which some suggested.
“We didn’t believe for one second that our crew could have been the cause of this terrible disaster,” Dykhne said. “Those were our best people. We mourn, and the world mourns with us.”
Ukrainian lawyer and aviation expert Andriy Guck said that Ukraine shouldn’t accept Iran’s “unintentional attack” explanation and demand full admittance of guilt.
“The human error is the reason only for the missile to be fired but it is not the only reason for this disaster,” he said on Facebook. “The investigation must continue and look into such reasons as why Iran didn’t close its airspace, why this plane was allowed to take off from the airport, and how the sides of the conflict failed to guarantee the safety of the civilian flights. These are the duties of the state that they failed to perform, not just the mistakes of certain people.”
Guck cited the lawyers representing Ukraine in international courts against Russia in the case of Russian military shooting down the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing 283 people on board. The Ukrainian lawyers, he said, insist that when military shoot a missile intending to hit a military plane, but at the same time can’t unmistakably discern a civilian aircraft from a military one, such an attack is defined as intentional.
Ivan Bakanov, head of the State Security Service of Ukraine, said that his agency was looking at the human error as the primary version when investigating the crash.
“(We suspected) that the missile complex was operated manually and wasn’t in the automatic regime, as some experts suggested at first,” Bakanov said on Jan. 11.
According to Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, the Ukrainian experts working on the site of the crash are in the process of identifying the bodies of the 11 Ukrainian victims. On the morning of Jan. 11, they received the DNA samples taken from the victims’ relatives in Ukraine.
