Azerbaijan air tragedy: Claims of Russian missile strike
General Kyrylo Budanov of Ukrainian military intelligence claims that an Embraer-190 from Azerbaijan Airlines was shot down over Russia. At least 38 people died in the tragedy.
The Embraer-190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in western Kazakhstan, resulting in at least 38 fatalities.
- According to our information, the aircraft was hit by a Russian Pantsir-S1 air defence system over Russian territory - stated Budanov in a statement for the military portal The Warzone.
The Euronews portal reported that the crash might have resulted from a Russian surface-to-air missile attack. Sources in the Azerbaijani government indicated that the missile was launched during an attempt by air defences to repel an attack by Ukrainian drones over Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.
The plane was on a route from Baku to Grozny, and as a result of the crash, 38 people lost their lives, and 29 were injured.
"Reckless action by Moscow"
According to an American official, quoted by the "Financial Times," "there are early indications" that the Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed on Wednesday "may have been hit by a Russian anti-aircraft system." This would suggest "reckless action by Moscow."
Most of the passengers on the Embraer-190 were Azerbaijani citizens. There were also 16 Russians among the victims, as well as several citizens of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
In preliminary official reports released on the day of the crash, Wednesday, Russia stated that dense fog forced the plane to change its intended landing site in Grozny and attempt to land in Kazakhstan, where it crashed, possibly after hitting a flock of birds. On that same day, the President of Azerbaijan said he had been informed about the aircraft being redirected due to adverse weather conditions.
However, this was challenged by experts and officials in the USA, the region, and Ukraine, who cited evidence indicating that Russian air defence was active at that time over Grozny in response to a Ukrainian drone attack. They also referred to photographs of the downed aircraft showing what appears to be shrapnel damage.
