Azerbaijan’s president says crashed plane was shot down by accident
BAKU – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by shooting from the ground in Russia, refuting claims that the crash was caused by birds or a gas cylinder explosion.
“Our plane was shot down by accident,” Aliyev told state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had come under some sort of electronic jamming and had then been shot at while it was approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Aliyev for Wednesday’s “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the plane after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian attack drones. However, the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting a criminal case had been opened.
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were attacking several cities.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said.
