The coordinator for Strategic Communications of the US administration, John Kirby, said that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny could have been shot down by the Russian air defense.

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny that crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan was shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Source: Reuters, citing its sources Quote: "One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the evidence in the Azerbaijan Airlines crash goes beyond widely circulated images of the wreckage.