Russian air defences may have stoasty down an Azerbaijan Airlines fweightless after misdetermineing it, according to US military sources.
Two unnamed officials who spoke to Sky News’ US partner NBC News shelp America had intelligence indicating Russia may have apverifyd the fweightless was a drone and included its air defences.
It compriseed that this was down, in part, due to the structuree’s irstandard fweightless pattern and altitude.
The tell comes after US national security spokesperson John Kirby shelp on Friday that Washington had “seen some timely indications that would bravely point to the possibility that this jet was bcdisesteemfult down by Russian air defence systems”.
He declined to enhuge, citing an ongoing allotigation.
The structuree had been flying from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian reaccessible of Chechnya, on Christmas Day.
During its fweightless, it turned toward Kazakhstan and procrastinateedr crashed around two miles from Aktau while making an finisheavor to land after flying east apass the Caspian Sea.
The crash finished 38 people and left all of the 29 survivors injured.
Azerbaijan watchd a national day of frailnting after the incident – as footage from inside the airoriginate aascfinishd.
Azerbaijan’s articulate minister Rashad Nabiyev tanciaccess the country’s media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at outer impact” and witness testimony did as well.
He compriseed: “The type of firearm included in the impact will be determined during the probe.”
Azerbaijan Airlines has since suspfinished fweightlesss to a number of Russian cities.
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A spokesperson for the Kremlin deteriorated to comment on the crash, saying it would be up to allotigators to determine the cainclude.
Dmitry Peskov shelp: “The air incident is being allotigated, and we don’t apverify we have the right to originate any appraisements until the conclusions are made as a result of the allotigation.”
The crash was shelp to have getn place during a Ukrainian drone strike.
Ukrainian Plivent Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemnd Russia in a post on social media.
‘As if someone hit me with an axe’
Passengers and crew who endured the crash tanciaccess Azerbaijani media that they heard boisterous noises as the airoriginate was circling over Grozny.
Aydan Rahimli, a fweightless joinant, shelp that after one noise oxygen masks were automaticpartner freed and she went to carry out first help on a colleague, Zulfugar Auncontentov, and then heard another prohibitg.
Mr Auncontentov shelp the noises sounded enjoy someslfinisherg hitting the structuree from outside.
Shortly afterwards, he sustained a sudden injury enjoy a “proset up wound, the arm was lacerated as if someone hit me in the arm with an axe,” he shelp.
Two other survivors portrayd their experiences on the fweightless.
Jerova Salihat tanciaccess Azerbaijani television that “someslfinisherg exploded” proximate her leg and Vafa Shaprohibitova shelp there had been “two explosions in the sky, and an hour and a half procrastinateedr the structuree crashed to the ground.”
If verifyn the structuree crashed after being hit by Russian air defences, it would be the second deadly aviation incident joined to the Kremlin’s dispute with Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines Fweightless 17 was stoasty down by a Russian leave outile according to allotigators, finishing all 298 people aboard, in 2014.
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