Zelensky said that Ukrainian experts would take part in decoding the black boxes, alongside experts from France, the United States, and Canada.

He said those responsible in the plane crash would be held accountable.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a tweet on Sunday that the boxes were expected to be taken to France’s BEA, Air Accident Investigation Agency – one of the world’s leading agencies for reading flight recorders, adding that Canadian transportation officials would be present.

On January 8, Iran mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after take-off from Tehran’s main airport. All 176 aboard, dozens of whom were Canadian citizens or permanent residents were killed.

Iran later called it a “disastrous mistake” that happened at a time when air defense forces were on high alert in case the US retaliated against Iranian missile strikes hours earlier on American military bases stationed in Iraq.

Those strikes were carried out in response to the assassination of a top Iranian Lt. Gen.QassemSoleimani, in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport on Jan. 3.

Earlier this month, the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in a report that the misalignment of an air defense unit’s radar system by its operator had been the key “human error” that led to the accidental downing of the Ukrainian plane.

The CAO also said the air defense unit operator had acted “without receiving any response from the Coordination Center” on which he depended.

Reuters, AFP, and Press TV contributed to this story.

The plane, designated Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, was hit by missiles fired from an air defense system near Tehran on January 8. All 176 passengers on board were killed in the crash.

Iran said at the time the plane was mistaken for a missile as the country was in high alert, having fired retaliatory strikes at US targets in response to a US drone strike that assassinated Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

According to ISNA, the decision to send the box to another country, such as France, was the fault of Ukraine, as Iran had made an offer to Kiev regarding the box.

“Following the Ukrainian side’s delay in responding to Iran’s offer regarding the Ukrainian plane’s black box, the Iranian authorities have decided to send the black box to another country, probably France,” the ISNA report said.

The report did not elaborate on when Iran plans to hand the black box over.

In March, Iran agreed to send the black box from the downed jetliner to Ukraine for analysis.

Farhad Parvaresh, who heads Iran’s delegation at the UN’s Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, said at the time that Iran had invited other interested countries to participate in reading the data, effectively opening the door to the United States, Ukraine, Canada and ICAO itself. Air crash investigations are usually left to ICAO’s 193 member states.

Iran had also made it clear that it would transfer the box to France if need be.

Under UN rules, Iran retains overall control of the investigation while the United States and Ukraine are fully accredited as the countries where the jet was, respectively, built and operated.

Reuters contributed to this report.