Danylo Lubvinsky on the Fallout in Ukraine Over Flight 752

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And I wonder what you can say you think will be the result of the conversations between your president, the Iranian president, whether this can be resolved in a way or whether it’s yet another really tough obstacle to get over.

DANYLO LUBKIVSKY, FORMER UKRANIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: I do appreciate your kind words and the words of support addressed to the Ukrainian nation, certainly this warmly welcome and we do feel this great grief and pain for those innocent lives killed in that attack.

Before answering your question, let me also say that we share the same pain as many other nations whose citizens were killed in this dramatic assault. So, this is a global tragedy and we certainly feel that no one remains indifferent to what happened in Iran, including the Iranian society. We believe that the tragedy happened there also shook that society. What is important right now is to ensure that there is a proper transparent investigation that is done in full accordance to the international standards, to the international law, So, those who committed that horrific crime would be brought to justice. This is important for Ukraine. And this sense of truth is extremely important for Ukraine’s citizens. I hope that the Ukrainian authorities, they say that they will closely cooperate with the Iranian authorities right now, will do their best to ensure that the investigation will bring about necessary results. However, I think that strong international cooperation should be maintained so we all know the truth, and the truth is established.

AMANPOUR: Mr. Lubkivsky, you know, the — as I mentioned, both presidents from Ukraine and Iran, did have a conversation. Hassan Rouhani from Iran has said Iran fully acknowledges that the tragedy was due to the erroneous actions of the military of this state. So, I want to ask you about that because you just said this assault and I want to know whether you believe and whether the Ukrainian leadership believes that it was a tragic error or not, or do you think there’s another issue that you want to — you know, you call for this transparent investigation, obviously? And do you believe that President Zelensky is doing the right thing in charge of trying to get all the answers and the compensation as he has said? He’s said, Ukraine is interested in the truth, we ask all our international partners to assist in the investigation and provide any relevant evidence that they might have.