Posted on 08/24/2021 5:05:46 PM PDT by dynachrome
Confusion reigned on Tuesday amid conflicting messages over whether a Ukrainian plane had been hijacked in Afghanistan.
Yevgeny Yenin, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, told the radio that the aircraft was "de facto hijacked" from Kabul airport on August 15, from where "it flew to Iran with a group of unknown passengers instead of evacuating Ukrainians".
Yenin's own foreign ministry then denied the claims.
Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told the AFP news agency that Yenin's claims "do not correspond to reality".
"There are no Ukrainian planes hijacked in Kabul or elsewhere," Nikolenko said.
The three planes -- two civilians and one military -- that Kyiv chartered to evacuate its nationals from Afghanistan "returned to Ukraine in safety" carrying a total of 256 passengers on board, he added.
A source in the Ukrainian government told AFP that the aircraft mentioned by Yenin was being negotiated with a view to its possible participation in the operation to evacuate Ukrainian nationals, but this project had failed because the aircraft had left Kabul without warning last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at euronews.com ...
“Our plane was hijacked,” Yenin told Western-funded Hromadske TV. “Last Tuesday, we actually had our plane stolen – it flew to Iran with an unknown group of passengers on board, instead of taking Ukrainians out.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.