Azerbaijani sources said Russian air defenses, not a bird strike, downed the airliner.
AdvertisementHowever, Azerbaijani sources said a preliminary investigation has found Russian air defenses caused the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people on board, including both pilots.
On Wednesday, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, said in an X post that the plane was "shot down by a Russian air defense system."
Others have also suggested that Russian air defenses likely played a role as images of the crash and the plane's flight track emerged.
However, on Thursday, unnamed Azerbaijani government sources told Euronews that a preliminary investigation had found that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the crash.
Persons:
Andriy Kovalenko, Matthew Borie, Oliver Alexander, Alexander, Dmitry Peskov, Samir Rzayev, Ilham Aliyev, Euronews
Organizations:
Azerbaijan Airlines, Aviation, Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft, New York Times, Ukraine, Ukraine's Center, Business, Malaysian Airlines, District, BI, BBC, Azerbaijan Airline's, Foreign Affairs
Locations:
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russian, Russia, Caucasus, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Grozny, North Ossetia, North Caucasus, Vladikavkas