Zelenskyy: Ukraine's Defence Intelligence to share facts about Azerbaijani plane crash with partners
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy directed Ukraine's Defence Intelligence (DIU) to share information about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash with its partners and called for putting pressure on Russia to stop lying about this.
Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy's evening address
Quote from Zelenskyy: "I have no doubt that the full truth about the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane can be established and that Russia will not succeed in concealing anything. Now there are already partners involved, who can be trusted, first of all, by Azerbaijan itself.
Ukraine will provide all the necessary assistance, and we call on every country to support Azerbaijan in this situation. And we call on every country to put pressure on Russia to stop the lies about this crash – the same lies as were told about MH-17, about the Boeing shot down over the Donetsk region.
In our conversation with President Aliyev, we acknowledged the heroism of the crew, who managed to steer the plane onto Kazakhstan territory, saving 29 people. But tragically, there were many fatalities, and for all this, the accountability must be borne – the accountability of those who hit the plane, and those in Russia who made all this possible: that the plane was targeted.
Today I received an intelligence report on what happened and the data we currently have. I instructed that all facts be shared with our partners."
Previously: On 28 December, Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, during which they discussed the crash of an Embraer plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines.
Background:
- On 25 December, an Embraer aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines en route from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau, the administrative centre of Kazakhstan's Mangistau Oblast. The crash killed 38 people.
- Azerbaijan Airlines said that the crash on 25 December was caused by "physical and technical external influence".
- Rashad Nabiyev, Minister of Digital Development and Transportation of Azerbaijan, said that eyewitness accounts and holes in the fuselage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan indicate external influence.
- In turn, the United States saw signs of Russian air defence involvement in the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane.
- During a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian leader Vladimir Putin apologised for the "tragic incident" involving an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that occurred in Russian airspace.
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