- The US said it has “early indications” that suggest Russian air defenses downed a passenger plane.
- An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed while trying to land after diverting to Kazakhstan, killing 38.
- Experts pointed to damage to the plane before it landed, suggesting it had been hit by a missile.
A White House official said the US has seen “early indications” that the fatal crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane was caused by a Russian air defense system.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that the US has “seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.”
Kirby did not provide further details, but he said Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were investigating the incident and that the US had offered to assist if needed.
When pressed for more information on whether the US had seen intelligence that pointed to the involvement of an air defense system, Kirby said the short answer was “yes” but that he would “leave it at that.”
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane was en route to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, on Wednesday.
Flight 8243 then changed course over Russia and was trying to reach Kazakhstan’s Aktau airport when it crash-landed.
Kazakh authorities said 38 people died, including the pilots, and 29 others survived.
Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images
The airline’s president praised the pilots’ “heroism” and said the crew’s dedication to their duties and prioritization of human life had “immortalized their names in history.”
Russian air defenses have been active around Grozny as Ukrainian drones have targeted the area as part of Ukraine’s fightback against Russia’s invasion.
Multiple experts and reports have pointed to Russia likely being behind the crash, citing the plane’s erratic route as well as photo and video evidence of the aircraft that show holes in its fuselage and tail while it was still in the air.
Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, said in a message to BI that “at this point, I don’t think there is enough available evidence to conclusively say what exactly happened (type of missile etc).”
But he said “all the evidence I have seen points to the aircraft being hit by shrapnel from an air defense missile which severely damaged the elevator and rudder controls.”
Sources with knowledge of Azerbaijan’s investigation told The Wall Street Journal that Russia had redirected the aircraft from its airspace and jammed its GPS system.
Azerbaijani sources with knowledge of the country’s inquiry also told The New York Times that Azerbaijani officials believed a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system had damaged the aircraft.
Rashan Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transportation, told the country’s media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” the AP reported.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” he added.
Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday that a preliminary inquiry had blamed both “physical and technical external interference” but did not give any details.
Multiple airlines said after the crash that they would suspend flights to Russia and avoid Russian airspace. Most Western airlines have already been doing so since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Kremlin has refused to comment on reports that Russian weaponry caused the crash.
Speaking at a news briefing on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Currently an investigation is in progress. Any air incident should be investigated by specialized aviation authorities.”
“It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions. Of course, we cannot do that. No one should do it,” he added.
Russia’s civil aviation authority pointed to a bird strike as a possible cause of the crash.
After a missile system shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in 2014, international investigators concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had likely given the system to separatists who used it.
All 298 people who were on board flight MH17 were killed.
