By Nicola Slawson (now), Damien Gayle (earlier)
Tehran says its military ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, killing all 176 people onboard
12.52pm GMT
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has spoken to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, about the investigation into the downing of the aircraft, a statement from the Ukrainian president’s office said.
The presidents have agreed to ask French specialists to decode the plane’s black box. Macron said the formal procedure to launch the international investigation had been started and he would visit Kiev.
12.42pm GMT
The relatively quick admission by Iran that Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by mistake has drawn comparisons with how Russia handled the MH17 case.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine by a Buk surface-to-air missile on 17 July 2014. Russia has always denied it played any role in the tragedy, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
This is in stark contrast to the Russian Federation, which 6 years and multiple investigations later, still claims it did not shoot down MH17. We were preparing for that kind of scenario again.
At the very least, this might give some form of closure to the families.
Source: Iran crisis: Tehran admits firing missile at airliner in ‘disastrous mistake’ – live news
Category: Iran, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, Middle East and North Africa, World news
