President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in exclusive commentary TSN. Tijen said that the publication of a new record of negotiations between the Tehran airport controller and the pilot of the Iranian airline, who saw the launch and the missile getting on board the UIA, proves that the Iranian side knew from the very beginning that the plane was hit by a rocket, they already knew at the time of the shot.

According to the head of state, Iran must pay compensation, but this will be done through international courts..

The reason for our meeting is very important in the context of our relations with Iran. It's about a downed plane. Thanks to the special services, we got a recording of the conversation between the Iranian dispatcher and the pilot of the Iranian plane, from which it follows that the Iranian side did not just know about the downing of the Ukrainian plane from the very beginning, but already knew when the rocket was launched. Did you hear this record. In your opinion, will the record become an additional argument for Iran to fulfill all conditions out of a guilty plea for a downed plane?

We understand that from the very beginning, the version that was distributed by the Iranian media, special services, the Iranian Ministry of Defense, from the beginning they pressed that it could be a technical error of our plane, that they changed course and the like. Everybody heard it. We knew this couldn't be. I talked about this, maybe not so openly. But, when we came to the parents and relatives of all the victims, I said that there was no crew error. We know that for sure.. We knew then that the plane is new, one of the best crews. We understood that the Iranians did not know exactly who, but we wanted to defend ourselves in such a way unlawfully - to press in the information field that this is such a technical error. But we already had evidence that this could not be. We sent a group of 45 people the night after the tragedy. They flew there on a military plane. It struck us that on the first day - they had nowhere to access. They could not find many parts of the plane - there was no cabin, there were no seats. And on the seats in such cases it is often possible to establish whether it was an explosion, since particles, parts from the device get stuck in a soft skin. It could be a rocket or something could be carried on a plane. The commission told us that there is a problem with parts of the plane. As I said, there was no cab, seats, and also one wing. And in that part of the plane where there was no wing, it was clear that there was some kind of explosion - the color of the side of the plane where there was no wing. We immediately received all this information from our experts..

Then we put pressure on the Iranian president. I personally made two calls. The calls were with the Prime Minister of Canada, with the United States - they all called to Iran and crushed. And they gave us information that confirmed ours: the explosion was due to an Iranian missile shot down.

Also, we did not have access to the control room, which is very important. Then we were given this access. Our experts then told me - nothing, no records, nothing. They got in touch with the plane, but nothing. We told them that this could not be, because at the same time some records should be kept. We set the task for our specialists to find at least some notes and simultaneously began to put pressure on Iran to give us black boxes. When we realized that they didn’t want to give us “black boxes”, it became clear that we had to squeeze so that they recognized the shooting down by the rocket. And in parallel, when our group already had certain evidence, then there were seats, a cabin was found, then a wing was found - everyone found. And it became obvious - there was an explosion.

After my conversation with the President of Iran, they granted full access, but there was no dispatch record and did not want to give black boxes, and, unfortunately, by that time they did not give them. Our task was to prove that technically the Iranian side is not able to decrypt the boxes in Iran, at the site of the tragedy, on the basis of their laboratories. More evidence could be bodies. But also, unfortunately, they provided us with access to bodies only when they recognized the rocket’s downing through pressure.

I believe that here is the biggest victory of our specialists. They already knew on the spot that it was a rocket, they already had this evidence, on the spot they showed everything to the Iranian side and they admitted - yes, but it was a mistake, they did not think that it was a Ukrainian or any other civilian plane. What we got now - we returned the bodies, returned our specialists. We didn’t just export them, it was also a difficult operation - we drove them by bus to Azerbaijan, and from there by plane. We were very afraid that there would not be any other provocation in order to divert attention from this terrible tragedy..

Now we have another entry. Why do I say " At first it was like that. And now our specialists have a record, we still received without access to the control room and without black boxes, which completely coincides with the video that was on the Web. This is a recording of Tehran’s control room with an Iranian plane, which was then landing. 6:12 our plane took off, and at 6:30 an Iranian plane was supposed to land. He saw all this and the crew began talking to the dispatcher. Everything is audible there - he says that “it seems to me that a rocket is flying”, he speaks it both in Persian and English, everything is fixed there. Indeed, this proves that the Iranian side knew from the very beginning that our plane was shot down by a rocket, they already knew this at the time of the downing. After this shot, the Iranian dispatcher gets in touch with our aircraft many times, but there is silence.

There is a very interesting moment in this record when the dispatcher talks with the pilot of an Iranian plane, the pilot asks him - \? " That is, probably, at that moment he had already contacted the leadership and reported that there was a rocket, and he was reassured that everything was in order.

Maybe there’s such a version that - " There may be another version, because the dispatcher gets in touch with our aircraft many times. I think he understood that there was an explosion, but because of what, I think, at that time, he might not understand. Maybe he said - " Specialists will investigate this entry step by step..

Besides the fact that Iran admitted verbally guilty, now it is necessary to prove this guilt in court. But the main argument of the Ukrainian side should be " Is there any chance that after these records Iran will agree to give Ukraine black boxes?

Iran already understands that we have more evidence than it was originally, and this entry is one of such important steps. Iran has already suggested that we involve our specialists in decrypting black boxes. They invite already on Monday (February 3) to fly to them in Iran. Frankly, we are very afraid of this, because they can invite our experts to their laboratories, but even then our experts told us that they are technically not ready for the correct, true decryption. I’m afraid that the Iranians may attract our specialists, let’s decipher here on the spot, and then they will say - why do you now need black boxes. No, we want to take these boxes, and we talked about this with a representative of the Iranian side, and he said - if we can’t decrypt them, we will give them to you. I said - your president also promised me that we will be allowed to any items, any evidence and we will be able to take black boxes. Therefore, I think that if our specialists fly there, they should have a mandate that in case of incomplete decryption there, they can pick up black boxes. For us it is very important.

What is the position of the Iranian president regarding the responsibility of his country and does he intend to support the compensation process?

Required. We had two long conversations. Frankly, if it was sincere, he really admitted his guilt, he really said that it was a big tragedy, a big mistake, and he said that only their side was to blame. He sympathized and said many times that he sympathizes and that they will pray. I said that it is already impossible to return our people. He said - this is only our fault, we will do everything so that all those responsible are punished and there will be compensation. In any case, there will be an international court, in any case there will be compensation, part of the compensation. From our state, we could immediately give each family 200 thousand hryvnias. The second part of the compensation - from UIA through insurance companies. The situation there is difficult, it is not easy for insurance companies to work with the Iranian side, since Iran is under sanctions. Already found a way out, documents have already been prepared for one family. All these documents are collected manually, after a while everything will be paid.

Regarding the Iranian side, they immediately offered 80 thousand dollars to each family of each deceased, but we did not agree to this. It seems to me that this is not enough. When the wife of the deceased says that her husband was the only breadwinner, and she has no work and the child needs to go to college - 80 thousand dollars is quite a bit. Although, of course, human life is not measured by any money, but we will press for more payments.

In this story, Ukraine wins the courts?

Ukraine will definitely win, we will all win.