'Pretty much ideal' for France to inspect black box flight recorders: Ukraine

Ukraine officials said on Monday it was "pretty much ideal" that France would inspect black box flight recorders from a Ukrainian passenger plane shot down by Iran in January.

Deputy foreign minister Yevgeniy Yenin told reporters Ukraine would send two experts to help with the work and suggested results from the EU member state would be seen as reliable.

His comments were Kiev's first reaction after French aviation investigators said late last month they would take the recorders from Iran and start technical work on July 20.

The Boeing 737 was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's airport on January 8, killing all 176 people on board.

The Islamic republic admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck.

Yenin said France would need up to five days to study the recorders, adding that his government was aware the recorders could be damaged and the analysis might not be successful.

"That the black boxes will be analysed in France is pretty much an ideal situation," he said.

Iran said last month the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen most international flights cancelled, had delayed the process of sending the boxes abroad.