One does have to wonder why so many Canadians were on this plane. Europe is much closer and has far more populace, so if they were trafficking around the sanctions, one would have expected mostly EU people (other than Ukrainians), would have been on it.
Those “Canadians” were actually Iranians with Canadian citizenship.
You can fly directly between Europe and Tehran. I'm sure many fly to Tehran via Paris, Rome, etc, but those are the folks that can afford it. Apparently, this flight via Kiev was by far the cheapest option to get from Canada to Iran. I suspect that's why so many are college students, who are typically broke...
One does have to wonder why so many Canadians were on this plane. Europe is much closer and has far more populace, so if they were trafficking around the sanctions, one would have expected mostly EU people (other than Ukrainians), would have been on it.
There is no mystery here. Ukrainian airlines no doubt has the cheapest flight from Toronto to many places in Eatern Europe and the Middle East. The Iranian-Canadians connected in Kiev for the flight to Iran.