Missile Fragment Found at Aktau Plane Crash Site

A fragment of a missile from the Russian Pantsir-S air defense complex was found at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau. According to Reuters, the piece was recovered and identified by international experts, reports NewsBox.

At the site where the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed near Aktau on December 25, a fragment of a missile belonging to the Russian Pantsir-S air defense system was discovered. This was reported by Reuters, citing a source in the Azerbaijani government.

The source stated that the recovered debris was extracted from the fuselage and identified by international experts.

Earlier, Reuters had suggested the aircraft might have been downed by the Russian air defense system, but this theory has not been officially confirmed.

Additionally, today the Kazakh Ministry of Transport released a preliminary report on the crash investigation. The document mentions the presence of "external objects" hitting the plane, though it does not reference any rocket launches from the Russian air defense system.