Reports Suggests Ukrainian Evacuation Plane Hijacked In Kabul And Diverted To Iran

According to the Russian news agency TASS, unidentified armed hijackers took possession of a Ukrainian plane and flew it to Iran after it landed in Afghanistan last week to rescue Ukrainians.

Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin said, according to TASS that their plane was hijacked by strangers last Sunday. Instead of airlifting Ukrainians, the aircraft was essentially kidnapped from them on Tuesday, with an unnamed group of passengers onboard. He explained that their next three evacuation efforts were similarly failed because their people were unable to gain access to the airport.

He did not, however, provide any other details on the flight's fate. The minister made no mention of what occurred to the aircraft, whether Kiev will try to recover it, or how the Ukrainian people returned from Kabul.

As per TASS, a military transport plane carrying 83 individuals, including 31 Ukrainians, landed in Kiev on Sunday from Afghanistan.

The Jerusalem Post claimed that both Tehran and Kiev denied the hijacking of any Ukrainian evacuation aircraft in Afghanistan. Whilethe Iranian Civil Aviation Authority informed that the plane refuelled in Mashhad before flying to Kiev.

According to RBC Ukraine, an official for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, also disputed the allegation, noting that there were no seized Ukrainian planes in Kabul or anywhere. The information regarding the 'caught plane' being spread by several media channels is false, reported LiveMint.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Yenin was describing the unusual level of problems diplomats faced in evacuating Ukrainians, according to Nikolenko. If this was not the case, it is unclear why Yenin reported the aircraft was hijacked by armed people and 'really stolen.'

Meanwhile, since the Taliban seized power on August 15, many countries have undertaken evacuation efforts to remove their citizens from Afghanistan. The quick evacuation is being conducted out with the assistance of US forces in possession of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International (HKI) airport.