Ukrainian drone assault was underneath approach earlier than Azerbaijani aircraft’s crash, Russian aviation chief says | Information At present Information

The crash killed 38 individuals and left all 29 survivors injured. Authorities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia had been tight-lipped a few doable reason for the crash pending an official probe, however a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Rasim Musabekov instructed the Azerbaijani information company Turan on Thursday that the aircraft was fired on whereas within the skies over Grozny and urged Russia to supply an official apology.

Requested about Musabekov’s assertion, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to remark, saying that it is going to be as much as investigators to find out the reason for the crash. “The air incident is being investigated and we don’t imagine we’ve got the fitting to make any assessments till the conclusions are made because of the investigation,” Peskov mentioned in a convention name with reporters.

Yadrov, the Russian aviation chief, mentioned that because the aircraft was getting ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones had been focusing on Grozny, prompting authorities to shut the realm for air visitors.

Yadrov mentioned that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land in Grozny, he was provided different airports in its place however determined to fly to Aktau throughout the Caspian Sea. “The scenario within the space of Grozny airport was fairly troublesome,” he mentioned in an announcement.

“There are a lot of circumstances that it’s mandatory to analyze collectively.” Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as a part of the crash probe, Azerbaijani Prosecutor Normal’s workplace mentioned in an announcement. Because the official crash probe began, some aviation specialists identified that holes seen within the aircraft’s tail part advised that it might have come underneath hearth from Russian air protection programs keeping off a Ukrainian drone assault.

Ukrainian drones had beforehand attacked Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and different areas within the nation’s North Caucasus. FlightRadar24 mentioned in a web based put up that the plane had confronted “robust GPS jamming” that interfered with flight monitoring knowledge. Russia has extensively used subtle jamming tools to fend off drone assaults.

Following Wednesday’s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaiajan Airways introduced Friday that it could additionally halt service to extra Russian cities, reducing air hyperlinks to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara.

It mentioned in an announcement that the flights shall be suspended “following the preliminary outcomes of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 plane working flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny, attributable to bodily and technical interference, and contemplating potential dangers to flight security.”

The corporate will proceed to function flights to 6 different Russian cities together with Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan.

These cities even have been repeatedly focused by Ukrainian drone strikes up to now. Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air additionally introduced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Ural Mountains for a month.

The day earlier than, Israeli El Al suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace.” The airline mentioned it could reassess the scenario subsequent week to determine whether or not to renew the flights.