The tragic incident involving Azerbaijan Airlines on Christmas morning shocked many, as chilling images reveal the fuselage marred with peculiar holes. This disaster resulted in the loss of 38 lives and has led to speculation that the aircraft may have been shot down.

As local news outlets delve deeper into the catastrophe, questions arise about the potential involvement of Russian military forces in this tragic event. The narrative emerging from these reports insinuates that the flight route may have exposed the jet to Russian air defenses.

The doomed flight, which departed from Baku, Azerbaijan’s bustling capital, was headed for Grozny in Russia. With 67 passengers and five crew members aboard, the plane met its tragic fate near Aktau, a city in the western expanses of Kazakhstan, during the quiet morning hours.

Flight Radar 24 data indicates that the aircraft navigated over the Republic of Dagestan, skirting along the picturesque Caspian Sea coast, until its abrupt disappearance from tracking screens. This proximity to Russia’s air defense systems has provoked further speculation about their involvement.

After a tense hour off the radar, the plane resurfaced far from its original course, flying alarmingly low above the waters of Kazakhstan’s western region before crashing.

Prior to the catastrophic conclusion of their journey, the crew had issued a report concerning a significant impact on the aircraft’s hull. Initially attributing this disturbance to a collision with a bird flock, further details later emerged indicating a possible explosion involving the oxygen tank, designed to provide breathable air in an event of cabin depressurization.

This abrupt pressure alteration within the oxygen tank is suspected to have caused extensive hull damage, contributing to the airplane’s disintegration.

However, the fresh revelation of conspicuously wide holes along the wreckage challenges previous bird collision and oxygen tank explosion theories, casting doubt on their likelihood as the root causes of the crash.

The haunting imagery and the aerodynamics experts’ skepticism over whether birds or an oxygen tank could inflict such damage have led to an increasing number of theories that Russian air defenses might have played a role in this tragic accident.