According to reports from multiple media outlets and statements from U.S. officials on the 26th, Azerbaijani and U.S. officials believe that the Azerbaijani plane crash was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile hit. The Kremlin warned against assumptions.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov said on the 26th that it is wrong to make assumptions before the investigation into the cause of the Azerbaijani Airlines crash is concluded.
On the same day, Russian media quoted Peskov as saying that the investigation related to the plane crash is ongoing, and making any assumptions before conclusions are reached is wrong.
According to a report by Kazakhstan's national news agency, Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister Bozumbayev said on the 26th: "As of today, we have not received any official explanation from Russia or Azerbaijan... Therefore, we cannot refute any information."
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane veered off course for unknown reasons on the 25th and crashed near Aktau in western Kazakhstan. Kazakh officials said of the 67 people on board, 38 died, and 29 survived.
AFP reported that the pro-government Azerbaijani website Caliber quoted unnamed officials saying they believed the plane was shot down by a Russian missile launched from the Pantsir-S air defense system.
The "New York Times", Euro News, and Turkey's Anadolu Agency also reported on this claim.
Some aviation and military experts suggested that the plane might have been accidentally shot down by a Russian air defense system, as it was flying over an area reportedly active with Ukrainian drones.
A former expert from the French Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said wreckage shows damage seemingly caused by "a large amount of shrapnel." He anonymously stated that it "recalls" the incident where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by a ground-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian rebels over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Euro News quoted Azerbaijani government sources as saying that the missile exploded beside the airplane in the air, with shrapnel hitting passengers and crew.
An unnamed U.S. official stated that preliminary signs indicate that a Russian air defense system shot down the plane.
The Kazakh international news agency quoted a prosecutor as saying that they have found two flight recorders, commonly known as "black boxes."
Azerbaijan Airlines initially stated the plane flew through a flock of birds, then retracted the statement.