Afghanistan Crisis: Ukraine, Iran Deny Reports of Evacuation Plane Hijacking

Ukraine and Iran bother have denied the reports of hijacking of a plane, which was evacuating Ukrainians from Afghanistan, reported Press TV on August 24.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin claimed that a Ukrainian plane was hijacked by armed hijackers in Kabul and flown to Iran instead, reported Russian TASS.

“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,"



Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister reportedly said.

According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, the hijackers were armed.

The Iranian Civil Aviation Authority denied the report, saying that the plane refueled in Mashhad and then flew to Kiev.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ghani fled the country, bringing an unprecedented end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation.

Since then, several countries are sending their aircraft to Afghanistan to evacuate their citizens and Afghan nationals.