What we know so far about the Azerbaijani airline crash that killed more than 30 people
A Russia-bound Azerbaijani airliner crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after being diverted, killing 38 of 67 people on board. Some experts alleged that the plane went down after being hit by Russian air defence systems.
Here’s what is known so far.
How did the plane crash?
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that aren’t fully clear yet.
It crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau, Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea.
The plane went down near the coast about three kilometres from Aktau. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before hitting the ground and exploding in a fireball.
Rescuers rushed the 29 people who survived the crash to hospitals.
How did Azerbaijan react?
Azerbaijan observed a nationwide day of mourning on Thursday. National flags were lowered across the country, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and signals were sounded from ships and trains.
As Azerbaijan mourns 38 people killed aboard a flight that crashed in Kazakhstan, experts are pointing to signs they say suggest a missile, potentially one from Russia, was responsible.
Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.
“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.
What do officials, experts say about a possible cause?
Kazakhstani, Azerbaijani and Russian authorities say they are investigating the crash.
Embraer, which is a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, told The Associated Press in a statement that the company is “ready to assist all relevant authorities.” Brazil has sent three Air Force investigators to Kazakhstan to “provide technical support” in a probe of the crash.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
Some commentators alleged that the holes seen in the plane’s tail section pictured after the crash possibly indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defence systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
Mark Zee of OPSGroup, which monitors the world’s airspace and airports for risks, said that the analysis of the fragments of the crashed plane indicate with a 90-99 per cent probability that it was hit by a surface-to-air missile.
Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm based in the United Kingdom, warned its clients that the “Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defence system.”
Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said that the company had issued more than 200 alerts regarding drone attacks and air defence systems in Russia during the war.
In Azerbaijan, online newspaper Caliber claimed that the airliner was fired at by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system as it approached Grozny. It questioned why Russian authorities failed to close the airport despite the drone attack in the area on Wednesday. Khamzat Kadyrov, head of Chechnya’s Security Council, said that air defences downed drones attacking the region on Wednesday.
Caliber also asked why Russian authorities didn’t allow the plane to make an emergency landing in Grozny or other Russian airports nearby after it was hit.
Asked Thursday about the claims that the plane had been fired upon by air defence assets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict.”
Kazakhstan’s parliamentary Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against rushing to conclusions based on pictures of the plane’s fragments, describing the allegations of air defence fire as unfounded and “unethical.”
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have similarly avoided comment on a possible cause of the crash, saying it will be up to investigators to determine it.
Published at Thu, 26 Dec 2024 13:02:23 +0000
North Korean troops fighting in Russia against Ukraine suffering high casualties, Kyiv says
North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses during fighting in Russia’s Kursk region and facing logistical difficulties as a result of Ukrainian attacks, Ukraine’s military intelligence said Thursday.
The intelligence agency, known under its acronym GUR, said Ukrainian strikes near Novoivanovka inflicted heavy casualties on North Korean units.
It said North Korean troops also faced supply issues and even shortages of drinking water.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed and wounded in the fighting in the Kursk region.
It marked the first significant estimate by Ukraine of North Korean casualties several weeks after Kyiv announced that North Korea had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in the almost three-year war.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported early on Friday that the country’s spy agency said an injured North Korean soldier had been captured alive.
The agency appeared to confirmed earlier reports that a North Korean soldier dispatched to fight for Russia had been captured by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August, dealing a significant blow to Russia’s prestige and forcing it to deploy some of its troops from eastern Ukraine, where they were pressing a slow-moving offensive.
The Russian army has been able to reclaim some territory in the Kursk region, but has failed to fully dislodge Ukrainian troops.
Russia steps up attacks in Ukraine
At the same time, Russia has sought to break Ukraine’s resistance with waves of cruise missiles and drone strikes against Ukraine’s power grid and other infrastructure.
The latest attack on Christmas morning involved 78 missiles and 106 drones striking power facilities, Ukraine’s air force said. It claimed to have intercepted 59 missiles and 54 drones and jammed 52 other drones.
On Thursday, Russia attacked Ukraine with 31 exploding drones. Twenty were shot down and another 11 didn’t reach their target due to jamming, the Ukrainian air force said.
Russia launched a massive missile and drone barrage targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Wednesday, striking a thermal power plant and prompting Ukrainians to take shelter in metro stations on Christmas morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 70 missiles and 100 attack drones were used to strike Ukraine’s power sources, in a statement on X.
As part of the daily barrage, Russian forces also struck a central market in Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region with a drone, wounding eight people, according to local authorities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Thursday that Russia could again hit Ukraine with the new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile that was first used in a Nov. 21 strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
Speaking to reporters, Putin said Russia has just a few Oreshnik missiles, but added that it wouldn’t hesitate to use them on Ukraine.
“We aren’t in a rush to use them, because those are powerful weapons intended for certain tasks,” he said. “But we wouldn’t exclude their use today or tomorrow if necessary.”
Putin said Russia has launched serial production of the new weapon and reaffirmed a plan to deploy some Oreshnik missiles to Russia’s neighbour and ally Belarus, where authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters Thursday that his country could host 10 or more.
Vladimir Putin says his forces will regain full control of the western Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops launched an offensive last summer. But the Russian president, who held an annual press briefing in Moscow on Thursday, would not provide a specific date.
Ukraine hit back with drone strikes of its own. Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communications said the military struck a plant in Kamensk-Shakhtynsky in Russia’s southern Rostov region that produces propellant for ballistic missiles.
“This strike is part of a comprehensive campaign to weaken the capabilities of the Russian armed forces to carry out terrorist attacks against Ukrainian civilians,” it said in a statement.
Published at Fri, 27 Dec 2024 03:49:04 +0000
