US Claims Russia Shot Down Azerbaijani Jet, Misidentifying It as Ukrainian Drone

Astana (Eurotoday Newspaper) – Early signs suggest a Russian anti-aircraft system shot down Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Early signs indicate a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot the passenger plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, a US official briefed CNN. The indications point to a Russian system hitting Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 before it collided near the city of Aktau, the US official expressed. Russian air defence procedures may have shot at the commercial aircraft, considering it was a long-range Ukrainian attack drone, they said.

The aircraft was journeying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny before it attempted an emergency landing about 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) from Aktau. A second black box was retrieved at the crash area, which authorities expect will provide critical information to assist investigators in determining what occurred. 

As reported by CNN, Miles O’Brien, a CNN aerospace analyst, described to Jim Sciutto that the fact the metal near the holes is turned inwards reveals that there was “an explosion in closeness to the tail of that aircraft.” The US official who talked to CNN also stated that the spots on the side of the plane are consistent with shrapnel harm from an explosion.

Moreover, Justin Crump, an intelligence, security and defence specialist and the CEO of risk advisory business Sibylline, told BBC Radio 4 that the aircraft being shot at by Russia is “the best approach that holds all the available realities that we know of.” Crump said that Russian air defences were engaged in Grozny near the time that the plane was harmed. “I don’t think this is planned at all,” he stated, pointing out that Russia is “very worried” about longer-range operational Ukrainian drones that are “very often not getting shot down.”

What similarities exist between this and prior airliner downings?

In a similar occurrence, on January 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down nearly a minute after take-off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport as its passengers and crew numbered a total of 176 passengers. Moreover, on July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Buk missile system used by pro-Russian separatists, killing all 298 passengers and crew members on board.