Ukraine examines missile case in Tehran plane crash

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday that he does not rule out a missile strike as a cause of the deadly crash of a Ukrainian plane on Jan. 8 in Tehran.

In a message posted on Facebook, Zelensky asked the world leaders, who accused Iran of downing the flight of the Ukraine International Airlines in Tehran on Wednesday, to provide Ukraine with the data, confirming the case.

"We keep in constant contact with our representatives [members of investigative commission]. The case of the missile hit is not ruled out, but today is not confirmed. Given recent statements by leaders in the media, we call on all international partners -- especially the U.S. government, Canada and the U.K. -- to provide data and evidence relating to the disaster to the investigative commission," Zelensky said.

The president added that he expected Iran to provide the Ukrainian experts with all information and access to every location to carry out "an impartial investigation".

He also mentioned he was going to discuss the crash with the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later today.

The U.S., U.K. and Canada spoke out they had evidence, suggesting that an Iranian surface-to-air missile had shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet.

Iran denied the allegations "a lie and psychological operation of the U.S."

The Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport just hours after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting the U.S. troops in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination last week of Qasem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force, outside Baghdad International Airport in a drone strike.

Some 176 people died in the crash, including Iranians, Canadians, Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and British citizens.