A solemn Sunday-morning ceremony at Kyiv airport has marked the repatriation of the 11 Ukrainians who died when their plane was mistakenly shot down by Iran on 8 January.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk were among the officials present at Boryspil airport. Ukraine International Airlines staff stood on the tarmac clutching flowers as flag-draped coffins were ceremonially welcomed back. The 11 Ukrainians who died on the UIA Boeing 737-800 included nine flight crew and two passengers. 

In total, the downed Kyiv-bound flight PS 752 had 176 people aboard, mostly Iranian and Canadian citizens, when it was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shortly after take-off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. Although Iranian authorities initially dismissed the suggestion of a missile strike, the IRGC admitted on 11 January that it had mistaken the plane for a U.S. cruise missile. 

Closure and confusion

While Sunday brought an element of closure to Ukrainian victims, it also brought increased confusion as the Iranian official leading the investigation into the incident appeared to backtrack on plans to send the "black box" flight recorders to Kyiv for analysis.

On Saturday, Hassan Rezaeifar was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying the recorders would be sent to Ukraine for analysis by French, American and Canadian experts. However, on Sunday the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Rezaeifar as saying "the flight recorders from the Ukrainian Boeing are in Iranian hands and we have no plans to send them out."

According to IRNA, Rezaeifar said Iran is still working to recover the data and cabin recordings - which had previously been described as damaged but usable - and that while the black boxes may be sent to Ukraine or France, "as of yet, we have made no decision."