Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called a meeting with an operational group in Kiev on Thursday, following the fatal Ukrainian passenger jet crash in Iran.

The meeting was attended by Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov, Ukrainian Defence Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Foreign Minister Vadim Pristaiko and several other officials.

According to the president's office, a Ukrainian team of 45 specialists is already working on investigating the causes of the incident. The remains of the aircraft are under examination, and DNA samples are being collected from relatives of victims in order to identify bodies and enable repatriation.

The Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800, bound for Kiev, crashed minutes after take-off near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning, killing all 176 people on board.

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the plane was likely "shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile," citing "intelligence from multiple sources." He noted that "this may well have been unintentional."

Iran denies the accusations, with the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization slamming the "illogical rumors" that Tehran's missile struck the Ukrainian Boeing, adding that it's "scientifically" impossible.