Kuleba, Champagne discuss fight against Covid-19, UIA plane crash

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Foreign Minister of Canada François-Philippe Champagne discussed during a phone conversation the ways to counter the spread of coronavirus and the investigation into the UIA plane crash in Iran.

“With my Canadian counterpart François-Philippe Champagne we discussed challenges the COVID-19 pandemic poses and how we can deal with them. We also coordinated further steps to ensure a full and transparent investigation of the Flight PS752 downing,” Kuleba posted on Twitter.

In turn, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that he had held a great conversation with the Ukrainian minister.

“Great conversation earlier today with my counterpart from Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. We discussed the COVID-19 crisis and what lies ahead as well as our continued pursuit of justice for the families of victims of Flight PS752,” Champagne tweeted.

The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (Flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after taking off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board – nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died.

Last month, an Iranian official at the International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to hand over flight recorders to France or Ukraine for analysis, but this has not been done so far.

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