A Ukraine plane on evacuation mission was on Tuesday hijacked in Afghanistan, reports Russian news agency TASS. The plane has been diverted to Iran. “A Ukrainian plane that arrived in Afghanistan to evacuate Ukrainians has been hijacked by unidentified people who flew it into Iran,” Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin was quoted as saying by TASS.

Yenin said that the plane was practically stolen from the Ukrainians and flown to Iran.

“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,” Yenin had earlier said, news agency ANI reported.

However, according to a Jerusalem Post report, Ukraine and Iran both have denied reports of hijacking a Ukrainian evacuation plane from Afghanistan.

Tehran and Kiev denied reports of hijacking of any Ukrainian evacuation plane, the report further added.

The Iranian Civil Aviation Authority, too, denied the report. They said that the plane refuelled in Mashhad and then flew to Kiev.

Reportedly, Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said: “There are no captured Ukrainian planes in Kabul or elsewhere. The information about the ‘captured plane’ that is being circulated by some media outlets is not true.”

He clarified that Ukraine‘s deputy Foreign Minister was only generally explaining the unprecedented level of difficulties that diplomats are facing in evacuating the Ukrainians.

On August 15, the Taliban stormed Kabul and took control of the Afghan capital. This happened in the backdrop of the withdrawal of the US forces. Shortly after, former president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani fled the country, reportedly with a helicopter filled with cash.

As the Taliban swept the streets, respective nations started their own evacuation process and airlifted their nationals.