Russian air defence systems may have brought down Azerbaijani plane, U.S. official suggests

Russian air defence systems may have brought down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane this week, a U.S. official said Friday after an Azerbaijani minister also suggested the plane was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony.

Friday's assessments by Rashan Nabiyev and White House national security spokesperson John Kirby echoed those made by outside aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defence systems responding to a Ukrainian attack. 

These statements raised pressure on Russia, where officials said a Ukrainian drone attack was underway in the region where the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was heading for a landing. They did not address statements blaming Russian air defences.

Kirby told reporters on Friday that the U.S. "have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defence systems," but refused to elaborate, citing an ongoing investigation. 

Pressed on whether the U.S. has intelligence that helped lead to that conclusion, or was simply relying on informed speculation from experts based on visual assessments of the crash, Kirby characterized the short answer as "yes," but said he'd "leave it at that," without providing further details.

MSNBC reported Friday that Russia may have mistakenly shot down the flight after misidentifying it as an incoming drone, citing two unidentified U.S. military sources. 

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land there, killing 38 people and injuring 29 survivors.

Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media that "preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact," as does witness testimony. 

"The type of weapon used in the impact from outside will be determined during the probe," he said.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.

Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after one loud noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.

Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. Shortly afterward, he sustained a sudden injury like a "deep wound. The arm was lacerated as if someone hit me in the arm with an axe," he said.

He denied a claim made by Kazakh officials that an oxygen canister had exploded inside the plane.

Two other survivors recounted hearing explosions before the plane went down: Jerova Salihat told Azerbaijani television in an interview in the hospital that "something exploded" near her leg, and Vafa Shabanova said "there were two explosions in the sky, and an hour and a half later the plane crashed to the ground."