Ukraine's evacuation plane hijacked in Afghanistan, taken to Iran: What you need to know

Unidentified armed hijackers took control of a Ukrainian plane and flew it to Iran after it arrived in Afghanistan last week to evacuate Ukrainians, reports Russian News Agency TASS.

Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin told the media that "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".

However, the Minister did not report anything about what happened to the plane or whether Kiev would seek to get it back or how the Ukrainian citizens got back from Kabul, onboard of this "practically stolen" plane or another one sent by Kiev.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organization denied the hijacking but admitted that the aircraft did land at Mashhad in the northeastern part of the country, for refueling after which it took off for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, all flights from the Hamid Karzai International Airport have been suspended for the time being.