Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine have taken Iran to the UN’s top court to seek damages for families of passengers on a jetliner downed by Tehran in 2020, they said Wednesday.

The case lodged by the four countries, which had a number of citizens on board, asks the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Iran to apologise for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 after take-off from Tehran.

All 176 people on the plane were killed. Three days after the January 8, 2020 crash, Iran admitted that its military had targeted the Kyiv-bound Boeing 737-800 plane by mistake.

The Hague-based ICJ said in a statement that the four countries “claim that Iran has violated a series of obligations” under a convention on civil aviation by shooting down the plane.

Their joint filing to the court alleges that Iran breached a 1971 multilateral treaty on threats to civil aviation, and that attempts to seek binding arbitration with Iran had failed.

They asked the court to “order full reparation for all injury caused” and to make Iran pay “full compensation to the applicants for the material and moral damages suffered by the victims and their families”.

Iran should also return the belongings of the victims, “publicly apologise” and acknowledge its “internationally wrongful acts”.

Ottawa, London, Stockholm and Kyiv vowed last month they would take the case to the ICJ, which was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member states.

‘Unwavering commitment’

Ministers from the four countries said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they had “taken an important step in our collective effort to ensure Iran is held accountable” for downing flight PS752.

“Today’s legal action reflects our unwavering commitment to achieving transparency, justice and accountability for the families of the victims,” said the statement on the Canadian foreign ministry website.

In June, Iran took Canada to the ICJ accusing Ottawa of allowing victims of alleged terror attacks to claim damages from Tehran.

Tehran’s case claims that Ottawa, which listed the Islamic Republic as a sponsor of terrorism in 2012, had violated Iran’s state immunity.

Iran’s application cited a 2022 Canadian court judgment that awarded more than $80 million in compensation to the families of six people who died when the Ukrainian airliner was shot down.

Eighty-five Canadian citizens and permanent residents were among the victims. Ukraine lost 11 citizens in the disaster.

Iran jailed 10 members of the armed forces in April after finding them guilty of involvement in the downing of the Boeing, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported Sunday.

In 2020, Iran offered to pay “$150,000 or the equivalent in euros” to each of the victims’ families.

But Ukrainian and Canadian officials strongly criticised the announcement, saying compensation should not be settled through unilateral declarations.

Tensions between Iran and the United States had been soaring at the time the airliner was shot down.

Iranian air defences were on high alert for a US counterattack after Tehran fired missiles at a military base in Iraq that was used by American forces.

Duisburg once touted itself as Germany’s “China city” due to strong links to the Asian giant, but it is now desperately seeking an image makeover as geopolitical tensions upend bilateral ties.

Located in Germany’s rustbelt and long in decline, Duisburg got a welcome boost in 2014 when President Xi Jinping promoted it as a key stop on China’s new “Silk Road” during a visit.

Huge numbers of freight trains were soon arriving from the world’s second-largest economy to the biggest inland port on Earth, and a flurry of China-linked initiatives followed. 

But escalating tensions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have prompted heightened concerns in Germany about relying too heavily on authoritarian powers, particularly China.

It comes as Europe’s top economy is taking a harder line against China, its biggest trading partner, on other issues ranging from Beijing’s sabre-rattling towards Taiwan to its human rights record.

On the ground in Duisburg, population 500,000, the chill can be felt: a tie-up with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has ended while shipping giant Cosco dumped its stake in a project at the port.

Markus Teuber, the dedicated China representative in Duisburg — the only German city to have such a role — insists that China remains an important partner but recognises times are changing.

“There was a kind of ‘China hype’ after (President Xi Jinping’s) visit,” Teuber told AFP in an interview in the city’s town hall.

But he acknowledged that “the global political situation is different and it won’t change so quickly. It won’t be the same again as it was three, four years ago.”

Changing times

The shift in Duisburg, northwestern Germany, is a microcosm of what is happening in the wider economy as tensions rise between Beijing and Berlin.

Manufacturing powerhouse Germany has built up by far the biggest investments of any European country in China. 

Just four of its companies — automakers Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz along with chemicals giant BASF — accounted for a third of European investment in China between 2018 and 2021, according to a study by independent research firm Rhodium Group. 

But in the first quarter of this year, German exports to China plummeted 12 percent compared to the period a year earlier.

Big firms are being impacted, with Volkswagen and BASF both suffering first-quarter sales slumps in China.

“Europe and Germany are more siding with the United States, through the eyes of China they are seen more as allies to the United States,” ING economist Carsten Brzeski told AFP.

“Whether it is conscious or unconscious, there will be more reluctance to buy ‘made in Germany’ these days.” 

This adds to other factors putting the economic relationship under pressure, such as Chinese firms now manufacturing products that rival those from Germany, he said.

Foreseeable risks

Back in Duisburg, one of the most high-profile and controversial projects was the tie-up with Huawei, which has faced growing national security concerns in the West.

Officials and the company signed a memorandum of understanding in 2017 that aimed to transform Duisburg into a “smart city” but the agreement was allowed to expire at the end of last year.

Nothing concrete emerged from the tie-up, and it ended for “technical” rather than “political” reasons, Teuber insisted.

Another initiative that drew attention was Chinese shipping giant Cosco’s stake in a major new project in the port, Duisburg Gateway Terminal. 

In June 2022, it transferred its shares to the port’s owner, although the Duisport group — which encompasses the owner and other companies — said the transaction “had no political background”.

Despite the worsening geopolitical climate, about 30 freight trains still ply the rail route between Duisburg and destinations throughout China each week, with the journey, at up to 15 days, quicker than sea shipments.

That is down from 60 to 70 trains a week during the pandemic, when port closures pushed up demand for rail freight, but around the same level as prior to it.

Officials now emphasise the approximately 200,000 containers travelling annually to and from China represent a small fraction of the four million handled by Duisburg’s port each year.

Duisburg is not about to close the door, however, with Teuber insisting that the city remains open to doing business with China, noting that Chinese delegations started visiting again in recent months after a pandemic hiatus.

Political opponents, however, remain convinced that focusing so heavily on China was misguided.

It was “definitely” a mistake, said Sven Benentreu, deputy chairman of the local chapter of the pro-business FDP party.

“The risks were already foreseeable several years ago.” 

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia, Belarus’s president said Thursday, raising questions about the deal to end the mercenary leader’s mutiny last month.

Rescue workers meanwhile were clawing through rubble in the UNESCO-protected western Ukrainian city of Lviv, which was hit by a Russian missile early Thursday that killed four and injured dozens more.

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko mediated a deal to end Prigozhin’s revolt — the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule — that was to see the mercenary head into Belarusian exile.

“As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in Saint Petersburg… He is not in Belarus,” Lukashenko, who has ruled isolated Belarus for nearly three decades, told reporters from foreign media outlets in Minsk.

Speaking in the presidential palace, Lukashenko said he knew “for sure” that Prigozhin was a free man, adding: “I spoke to him on the phone yesterday”.

The Kremlin replied by saying it was “not following” Prigozhin’s movements, nearly two weeks after the June 23 mutiny that saw armed fighters on the march toward Moscow.

Lukashenko said that members of Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group have not established a base in Belarus yet, despite an offer from the Kremlin for those who took part in the failed mutiny to do so. 

“At the moment the question of their transfer and set-up has not been decided,” Lukashenko said. 

Images broadcast by Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin’s residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the grounds, reportedly on June 25.

Vicious’ attack

Lukashenko’s comments came hours after what Lviv’s mayor said was the biggest attack on civilian infrastructure in the city since the start of the Russian invasion last February.

While Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, the Lviv region in the west, hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines and near the Polish border, has largely been spared the aerial onslaughts.

The US embassy in Ukraine described the attack as “vicious” and said in a tweet that “Russia’s repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying.” 

“We will not stand by and will continue to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” it added.

Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the missiles had struck a residential building.

“The 3rd and 4th floors in two sections of the house were destroyed,” he said.

At least four people had been killed in the attack and 32 were wounded, including a child, the emergency services said later, updating an initial toll.

The attack came as President Volodymyr Zelensky, who vowed a tangible response to the strike, arrived for an official visit in Bulgaria, a major ammunition producer and supporter.

Ceiling started to fall

Rescuers were working to reach those still trapped, and AFP footage showed emergency responders clearing rubble and wood from the gutted first floor of a building in Lviv.

Cars covered in dust and with their windows blown out lined a pavement piled with debris.

One elderly woman carried a cage with a bird inside away from the scene.

“I woke up from the first explosion, but we didn’t have time to leave the apartment,” Olya, 37, told AFP.

“There was a second explosion, the ceiling started to fall, my mother was immediately hit,” she said.

“I got to the window, started screaming, and in about half an hour the rescuers got to me, took me out and took me to the 8th hospital,” Olya added.

“I came back and found out that my mother had died, my neighbours had died. At this point, it seems that I was the only one who survived from the fourth floor. It’s a miracle.”

More than 50 apartments were “ruined” and a dormitory at Lviv Polytechnic University was damaged, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted on Telegram.

An office building had been damaged and a school building had been destroyed, he said, later announcing two official days of mourning.

Zelensky said on social media that “Russian terrorists” were responsible for the destruction, adding: “There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”

Sorting through debris

On June 20, Lviv was hit by a major Russian drone assault that also targeted other cities including Kyiv.

Ukraine has recently bolstered its air defence systems with Western-supplied weapons and the number of Russian missiles and drones breaking through has diminished.

But the spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, Yuriy Ignat, recently said that newly supplied systems were still insufficient to cover the whole country. 

Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defences in occupied areas, Zelensky said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday.

“Our slowed-down counteroffensive is happening due to certain difficulties in the battlefield. Everything is heavily mined there,” he told CNN via a translator in the pre-taped interview.

Zelensky announced his arrival in Bulgaria on social media saying he had plans to meet with his counterpart Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.