- Ukraine says no Ukrainian planes have been hijacked in Kabul or any other place.
- All Ukrainian evacuation planes have safely returned to Kiev.
- 256 people were evacuated on three flights.
According to the spokesman for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, earlier reports of a Ukrainian plane hijacked in the Afghan capital city of Kabul and subsequently flown to Iran were not true.
“No Ukrainian planes have been hijacked in Kabul or in any other place. Reports of a hijacked aircraft that some media outlets are spreading are untrue,” Ukraine Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in an interview with RBC Ukrainian news agency today.
According to the Foreign Ministry official, all planes that Kiev used to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Afghanistan have safely returned to Ukraine. As of now, 256 people were evacuated on three flights.
Iranian Civil Aviation Organization Spokesman Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh, in turn, also denied reports of a hijacked aircraft. According to the Mehr news agency, he pointed out that the Ukrainian airliner made a stopover for refueling in the Iranian city of Mashhad on Monday and later headed to Kiev, where it landed at 10:50 pm local time.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin claimed earlier that unidentified individuals had seized a Ukrainian plane on Tuesday and flew it to Iran. According to the official, the plane was actually hijacked.
