Missile strike considered one of the versions of the UIA plane crash, says Ukraine's NSDC secretary

Reports of wreckage of a Russian missile found near the crash site have already appeared online.

National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that one of the current versions of the UIA plane crash is a strike by a Russian Tor air defense missile system missile. This is reported by Censor.NET.

The Ukrainian embassy in Iran first put forward a version of an engine fire and wrote that neither a missile nor a terrorist attack was to blame for the tragedy. But then it deleted the information and said that the causes are being determined by a commission, and until its decision, any statements about the causes are not official.

Oleksiy Danilov
NSDC Secretary

Overnight, in line with a decision by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the state commission investigating the crash of the UIA Boeing arrived in Tehran. The group consists of 45 people, representatives of 12 ministries and agencies. <...> Our commission is currently coordinating with Iranian authorities the issue of travelling to the crash site and intends to search for debris of a Russian Tor air defense missile, according to data published online.

A meeting is currently underway with the participation of representatives of Iran's competent authorities, including Iran's Civil Aviation Authority. Various versions of the sudden fall of the plane are being considered. The main ones are:

• a missile strike on the plane by an air defense system, including the Tor system, since information about the discovery of Russian missile debris near the crash site has already appeared online;
• a collision with a UAV or another flying object;
• destruction and explosion of an engine due to technical causes;
• an explosion inside the plane as a result of a terrorist act.

Earlier, Iran provided the first report on the investigation of the UIA air crash, which states that the plane caught fire while still in the air and the pilots tried to return it to the airport. Iran also officially invited representatives of the United States and other countries to take part in the investigation.

This morning, Ukrainian President recorded a video address in which he announced the departure of Ukrainian specialists to Iran to investigate the UIA plane crash, and declared January 9 a National Day of Mourning.