On Wednesday, 38 passengers were killed when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed while attempting an emergency landing near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani government sources exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian ground-based missile system caused the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Aktau on Wednesday.
According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone activity over Grozny, and the missiles hit the passengers and crew after exploding next to the plane in flight.
Government sources told Euronews that the damaged plane was not allowed to land at any Russian airport, despite the pilot’s requests for an emergency landing, and was ordered to fly over the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane’s GPS navigation systems were reportedly jammed throughout the flight over the sea. The missile was fired from the Pantsir-S air defense system, the Baku-based international portal AnewZ reported, citing Azerbaijani government sources.
According to Russian sources, at the time the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was passing over Chechnya, Russian anti-aircraft forces were actively trying to shoot down Ukrainian drones.
The head of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic, Khamzat Kadyrov, confirmed that the drone attack on Grozny took place on Wednesday morning, noting that there were no casualties or damage.
If these preliminary data are confirmed, this would be the second time in the last ten years that Russian forces have destroyed a commercial aircraft, after the downing of MH17 in Ukraine. This time, the victims include Russian citizens, as well as citizens of neighboring countries.
The accident is also reminiscent of an earlier incident in November 2018, when an Air Astana Embraer 190 lost hydraulics over Portugal, but, with the help of the Portuguese Air Force, landed safely.
Further investigation into Wednesday’s plane crash should reveal the circumstances surrounding the missile launch, the landing ban at a nearby airport in Russia, and the order to fly the damaged plane over the sea.
