The White House announced Friday that there were early indications that Russian air defenses shot down a passenger plane that crashed over Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. has “early indications” that Russia is responsible, but cited an ongoing investigation. I avoided mentioning the above.
“If necessary, we have offered to cooperate with that investigation,” Kirby added.
The Azerbaijan Airlines flight, an Embraer 190, was carrying 67 passengers when it crashed on Wednesday near Aktau, a city in southwestern Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea.
The plane was headed from Baku to the city of Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya, an area that has frequently activated air defenses to remove Ukrainian drones amid the country's war with Kiev.
The investigation is being led by Kazakhstan, but a preliminary report published by Azerbaijani news website Caliber suggests that Russia's Pantsir-S air defense system was responsible for bringing the plane down.
Azerbaijan Airlines announced in a Friday post on social platform X that the plane crashed due to “physical and technical external interference.”
The airline suspended several flights to certain regions of Russia, including Grozny.
The Kremlin on Thursday cautioned against speculation and said an investigation was ongoing.
Investigators say an oxygen tank in the cabin exploded, but it is unclear how the explosion occurred.
Russian aviation authorities claim the explosion was caused by a bird strike.
