Azerbaijan jet crash: Ukraine official accuses Russia of shooting down plane

A Ukrainian military official has accused Russian troops of shooting down an Azerbaijan flight which crashed on Wednesday (December 25) killing 38 people and wounding 29 others, many seriously.

Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Counting Disinformation at the National Security and Defence Council, alleged that the civilian aircraft was hit by Russian air defence systems while approaching Gronzy in Russia.

Also read: Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 onboard crashes

Moscow has not reacted to the charge. The Russian media, apparently based on official accounts, had earlier reported that the accident may have occurred due to bird hits.

A missile hit the plane?

But other reports spoke of mounting evidence which indicated that the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243, which crashed in Kazakhstan, may have been struck by an anti-aircraft missile amid military tensions in southern Russia.

The aircraft caught fire as it tried to make an emergency landing amid heavy fog near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

The plane was seen heading towards the ground at high speed with its landing gear down, before bursting into flames as it touched the ground.

Widespread shrapnel damage

“Russia should have closed the airspace over Gronzy but failed to do so,” said the Ukrainian official. “The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Gronzy to save lives.”

Turkish media reports said the plane had suffered widespread shrapnel damage to the fuselage. Survivor accounts of an external explosion also backed the theory of sabotage.

One passenger who survived the disaster found shrapnel holes in his life jacket.

Deviation from flight path

Officials also said that flight tracking data showed the jet deviated significantly from its intended flight path before crashing. This, they said, could not have happened in the event of a bird hit.

Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended all flights to Russia’s Chechnya region.

Black box found

The Turkish media quoted unnamed aviation experts as saying that the damage patterns on the plane were inconsistent with bird strike and instead bore signs of anti-aircraft munition impact.

“The flight unusual trajectory, circling near Aktau airport before its final descent, suggests the crew was dealing with severe systems damage,” Turkiye Today reported.