Ukrainian evacuation plane reportedly hijacked from Afghanistan, taken to Iran; Tehran, Kiev deny

The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse after the occupation of the Taliban. Meanwhile, there is news that a Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians has been hijacked by unidentified people who flew it into Iran. According to reports, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin has claimed that the Ukrainian plane had reached Kabul to evacuate its citizens, which has been hijacked by unknown people.

"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," he was quoted by news agency Tass as saying.

According to him, the hijackers were armed. However, the deputy minister did not report anything about what happened to the plane or whether Kiev would seek to get it back or how the Ukrainian citizens got back from Kabul, onboard of this "practically stolen" plane or another one sent by Kiev. Yenin only underlined that the whole diplomatic service headed by Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba "had been working in the crash test mode" the whole week.

On the other hand, a report in The Jerusalem Post has claimed that both Ukraine and Iran have denied reports of hijacking of a Ukrainian evacuation plane from Afghanistan. Tehran and Kiev denied hijacking of any Ukrainian evacuation plane in Afghanistan, The Jerusalem Post added.

On Sunday, a military transport plane with 83 people onboard, including 31 Ukrainians, arrived from Afghanistan to Kiev. The presidential office reported that 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while foreign reporters and public figures who requested help were also evacuated. The office also added that around 100 Ukrainians are still expecting evacuating in Afghanistan.