Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said Iranian soldiers made a mistake and shot a Ukrainian plane by mistake when they heard that six US F-35 fighters were approaching.

"There are at least six US F-35 stealth fighters near Iran's airspace at the time. This information has not been verified yet, but I would like to emphasize that such a situation is always stressful," the right of the Russian Foreign Minister said. Sergei Lavrov said during a press conference on January 17 in Moscow.

According to Lavrov, the appearance of American stealth fighters worried the Iranian air defenses and led to the decision to shoot wrongly on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Ukraine International Airlines carrying 176 people who had just taken off from Tehran airport in the morning 8/1.

The incident happened hours after Iran raided a missile against US forces stationed at two bases in Iraq in retaliation for an air strike that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3.

"This is a human error. Everyone understands that," Lavrov said.

"I agree with Iran's argument that the victims were killed as a direct result of the escalating hostility of the US when they killed Iran's General Soleimani. This action is beyond international understanding. , law and people, "added the Russian Foreign Minister.

The Boeing 737-800 took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran when Iran was on high alert for a U.S. retaliatory strike. The Iranian authorities did not make a decision to close civilian airspace, causing the aircraft to be mistaken as a hostile target toward a military base.

Investigators in Ukraine and Canada have been in Iran, having access to debris of the Boeing and the area of the plane crashed to investigate the incident. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on Sunday that the country would be handed over the black box after investigators in Iran and Canada accessed data in the black box.