Title: Plane Crash in Kazakhstan: Over 60 Onboard After Passenger Jet Crashes</strong></p>”>Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Shot Down by Russian Air Defense, Ukraine Claims
In a shocking development, a Ukrainian official has asserted that a passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines was shot down by Russian air defense systems. The incident occurred near the Kazakh city of Aktaū on Sunday.
Andriy Kovalevko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defence Council, made these allegations on his Telegram channel, as reported by Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform and Bulgaria’s dnes.dir.bg.
"An Embraer 190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from Baku to Grozny, was hit by Russian air defense," Kovalevko wrote, according to Ukrinform and BTA. He criticized Russia for not closing the airspace over Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, which could have prevented the tragedy.
"The plane was damaged by the Russians and forced to divert to Kazakhstan instead of making an emergency landing in Grozny to save lives," Kovalevko added.
The plane was carrying 67 passengers, with early reports indicating 38 fatalities. However, Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority, Rosaviatsiya, attributes the crash to a bird strike causing an "emergency situation on board." Azerbaijan’s flag carrier and Azertag also confirmed this.
Footage from phones shared online shows the plane plummeting to the ground and bursting into flames. According to The Associated Press, people can be seen helping others out of the burning wreckage.
Azerbaijan Airlines confirmed that the crew was forced to make an emergency landing about 3 kilometers from Aktaū. The flight was diverted via Makhachkala, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, due to fog in Grozny.
According to the state airline of Azerbaijan, 37 of the passengers were Azeri citizens, 16 were Russian, six were Kazakh, and three were Kyrgyz. So far, 32 people have survived the crash.
