Crash of UIA Plane: What Is Known About the Ukrainian Crew Members

There were nine of them in total.

Eleven Ukrainians died when a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane crashed in Tehran today, nine of them crew members. Strana has compiled information about the victims.

Volodymyr Haponenko

Captain, with 11,000 flight hours. The man leaves behind two children; his wife has already said she is holding on for their sake. He studied at the Flight Academy of the National Aviation University in Kropyvnytskyi (formerly Kirovohrad). 

Oleksii Naumkin

Instructor on the aircraft. 12,000 flight hours.

Serhii Khomenko

First officer. 7,600 flight hours.

Kateryna Statnyk 

Flight attendant, 27 years old.

Mariia Mykytiuk

Flight attendant, 24 years old. Originally from Ivano-Frankivsk, she studied at the National Aviation University from 2012 to 2018. Reports say she was a positive honor student and a real role model for students. Her Instagram profile says she has visited 23 countries.

Valeriia Ovcharuk 

Flight attendant. Her social media profiles say she is from Luhansk and lives in Kyiv, and that she has travelled a great deal. The description on her Instagram profile reads: “I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.”

Users are already leaving condolences under one of her posts captioned “Work, I love you.”

Yulia Sologub

Flight attendant.

Ihor Matkov

Flight attendant.

Denys Lykhno 

Flight attendant. He studied at the National Aviation University from 2012 to 2018 and worked for UIA for six months. Judging by his Instagram, the young man had a girlfriend.

Two Ukrainians were among the passengers on board: Olena Serhiivna Malakhova, director of the airline Skyaviatrans LLC, and Olha Kobiuk. Everyone on board died.