Blackboxes of crashed Ukrainian plane confirm illegal interference

Kiev, July 25 The transcript from the blackboxes of a Ukrainian passenger plane that was downed near Tehran in January, has confirmed the fact of illegal interference with the jet, authorities said.

"I am grateful to all the partners who helped to bring this moment closer. Black boxes of PS-752 were read out and deciphered successfully," Xinhua news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin as saying in a tweet on Friday.

"The transcript confirmed the fact of illegal interference with the plane. We are waiting for the Iranian side for the first round of negotiations next week," he said.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was too soon to blame human error for the downing of the airliner and that many questions remained unanswered.

The Boeing-737, en route from Tehran to Kiev, was shot down by two rockets shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on January 8.

The crash resulted in the deaths of all 167 passengers and nine crew members on board, who were citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, and the UK.

Later, Iran's armed forces confirmed that an "unintentional" launch of a military missile by the country was the cause of the incident.

( With inputs from IANS )