A Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians was reportedly hijacked on Tuesday by unidentified people who flew it into Iran, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin said.
"Last Sunday, our plane was hijacked by other people. On Tuesday, the plane was practically stolen from us, it flew into Iran with an unidentified group of passengers onboard instead of airlifting Ukrainians. Our next three evacuation attempts were also not successful because our people could not get into the airport," the minister was quoted as saying by TASS. According to the TASS report, the deputy minister did not state what happened to the plane or whether Kiev would seek to get the plane back. Yenin only underlined that the whole diplomatic service headed by Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba "had been working in the crash test mode" the whole week.
On Sunday, a military transport plane with 83 people onboard, including 31 Ukrainians, arrived from Afghanistan to Kiev. The presidential office reported that 12 Ukrainian military personnel returned home, while foreign reporters and public figures who requested help were also evacuated. The office also added that around 100 Ukrainians are stil| expecting evacuating in Afghanistan.
After the administration of US President Joe Biden had announced the end of Washington's 20-year-long military operation in Afghanistan and embarked on launching its troop pullout, the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) went on an offensive against Afghan government forces. On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance, and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours.
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