Ukraine to pay compensation to families of Iran plane crash victims

The Ukrainian government is offering about £6,200 in financial compensation to the families of its citizens who died in the plane crash in Iran.

All 176 people on board the Ukrainian Airlines Kyiv-bound plane were killed, including 11 Ukrainians. Iranian officials have admitted responsibility for mistakenly shooting down the Boeing 737 shortly after it took off from Tehran.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address on Saturday that his government will also push Iran to provide separate compensation to the victims’ families.

He said he had just spoken by phone to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who had promised those responsible for firing on the jet will be prosecuted.

Mr Zelenskiy also said Iran had vowed to quickly identify and return victims’ remains to their home countries.

He thanked the US, Britain, Canada and others for information about the crash, saying that support “undoubtedly helped” push Iran to acknowledge its responsibility for the crash.