An Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed in December near the Kazakh city of Aktau was likely shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system.
This was reported to Reuters by a source in the Azerbaijani government.
"The Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of the Pantsir-S missile, which was recovered from the aircraft and identified with the help of international expertise," the source said.
This information appeared on the same day that the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan published a preliminary report on the disaster.
The document stated that an initial inspection of the aircraft fragments after the crash revealed “numerous through and through damage of various sizes and shapes” in the tail section, left engine, and left wing. In some places, the damage was rectangular in shape.
The report showed pictures of foreign objects found in the fuselage of the aircraft, but did not specify their origin.
What preceded
The plane crash occurred in Kazakhstan on the morning of December 25. The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the city of Grozny in Russia, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau.
There were 67 people on board the plane, including five crew members. 38 people died in the crash.
According to Euronews sources in the Azerbaijani government, the cause of the plane crash was a Russian surface-to-air missile. The missile was allegedly launched from flight J2-8432 during drone activity over Grozny. The missile exploded during the flight, and its fragments hit the plane.
On December 27, Azerbaijan Airlines stated that, initially, the cause of the crash was "physical and technical external influence".
On December 28, Putin apologized for the "tragic incident" with the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, but did not directly take responsibility for the disaster.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.