KIEV — US officials have given Kiev "important" information about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday after phone talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

All 176 people on board died when a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 went down near Tehran on Wednesday, shortly after Iran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the killing of a top Iranian general in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

American, British and Canadian officials say intelligence sources indicate that Iran shot down the plane, perhaps unintentionally, but this has been denied by Tehran.

Zelensky said on Facebook that the possibility the plane had been shot down by a missile was not ruled out "but it has not yet been confirmed."

He asked for Ukraine to be given all the information needed to conduct a thorough investigation.

"Our goal is to establish the undeniable truth," he said. "The value of human life is above all political motives."

In a phone call with Pompeo, he thanked Washington for its support.

"We are grateful for the valuable support of the United States in investigating the causes of the crash," Zelensky told Pompeo, according to a statement released by his office.

He said he met chargé d'affaires Kristina Kvien and received important information which could help in the investigation."

Zelensky and Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko also met with other US officials including Kvien, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine.

Zelensky's office also said the Ukrainian leader and Pompeo discussed ways to normalize the situation in the Middle East.

Pompeo expressed his "deepest condolences for the lives lost" in the crash.

"We stand with #Ukraine and are ready to offer our support and assistance in the ongoing investigation," he said on Twitter.

Speaking on Fox News on Thursday, Pompeo had urged Iran to cooperate in the probe.

"I hope that the Iranians will cooperate with it completely," he said.

"We've got to get to the bottom of it, and it's important that we get to the bottom of it quickly."

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's national security and defense council, said Thursday that investigators were pursuing several leads, including a strike with a surface-to-air missile such as a Russian-made Tor, a collision with a drone, engine failure or a terror attack.

Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigates aircraft incidents, said Friday it was ready to assist in the probe but that Iran had not asked Moscow for help.

Zelensky's office said Pompeo, who was previously expected in Kiev on January 3, will travel to the ex-Soviet country at the end of the month.

Dutch blame Iranian

missile for jet crash

Meanwhile, Dutch intelligence has information that a Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran was probably hit by a missile, a minister said on Friday, becoming the latest Western country to suggest the plane was brought down. Canada and Britain have already suggested that the crash — in which all 176 people on board the plane were killed — was caused by an accidental missile strike by Iranian forces, but Tehran has dismissed the claims.

"Based on the information from the MIVD (Dutch military intelligence), we can state that it is likely that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile has led to the crash of the aircraft," Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld was quoted as saying by a spokesman after a Cabinet meeting.

Bijleveld gave no further details of the information or how the Netherlands, which did not have any nationals on board the Ukrainian Boeing 737, obtained it.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said separately in Brussels that it was "indeed very likely that the plane has been shot down by Iranian missiles".

Asked whether Iran should face EU sanctions, Blok said it was "important that independent research makes clear what exactly happened".

The minister said that the Netherlands had offered assistance to Canada, which had 63 of its nationals on the plane.

"Unfortunately the Netherlands has experience from MH17," he said referring to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 with the loss of 296 people on board. — AFP