Iran offered $80,000 each to families of plane crash victims, but that's not enough – Zelensky

03.02.2020 09:27

Ukrinform

Iran proposed paying $80,000 each to the families of Ukrainian citizens killed in the shooting down of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane near Tehran on January 8, but the Ukrainian side has not agreed to that.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a comment to the TSN.Tyzhden weekly news program on the 1+1 television channel on Sunday, February 2.

"They [the Iranian side] offered $80,000 to each family of each victim, but we did not agree to that. It seems to me that this is not enough. When the wife of the deceased says that her husband was the only breadwinner, she does not have a job and their child has to enter the institute, then $80,000 is not enough. Of course, human life is not measured by any money, but we will press for higher payments," he said.

Zelensky added that Ukraine would still file a lawsuit with an international court.

"In any case, there will be an international court. In any case, there will be compensation, part of compensation. From our state, we paid as much as we could to every family – UAH 200,000. The other part of compensation will come from UIA through insurance companies. The situation is difficult. It is not easy now for insurance companies to work with the Iranian side, as Iran is under sanctions. They have already found a way out, and documents have already been prepared for one family. All these documents are being collected manually, everything will be paid in some time," he said.

He also expressed confidence that Ukraine would win the case in the courts.

"Ukraine will definitely win. We will win everything," he said.

A Ukraine International Airlines 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 Wednesday, 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).

On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.