New Delhi: Ukraine has retracted its earlier claim that its plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians had been hijacked and flown to Iran by unidentified armed persons. The allegation was raised by Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin according to a report by Russian News Agency, TASS
India today quoted Abas Aslani, Spokesman for the Civil Aviation Organisation of Iran saying that the plane (allegedly hijacked) came to Mashhad airport (northeastern Iran) for refueling and after refueling, it left for Ukraine and arrived at Kiev airport at 21:50.
Earlier, Russian News Agency TASS quoted Ukrain's Foreign Minister Yenin as saying that "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,"
On Sunday, a military transport plane with 83 people onboard, including 31 Ukrainians, arrived from Afghanistan to Kiev. The presidential office reported that 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while foreign reporters and public figures who requested help were also evacuated. The office also added that around 100 Ukrainians are still expecting evacuation in Afghanistan.