A survivor of Wednesday’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash said the plane’s pilots tried to land in Grozny, Chechnya three times, followed by an explosion outside the plane, according to an audio recording shared by Russian TV channel RT.

Azerbaijan Airlines, the carrier of the passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, said preliminary investigations have found the disaster occurred “as a result of physical and technical external interference,

"We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia," President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised statement

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.

Survivors from the crash told ABC News that they heard and felt explosions outside the aircraft during the flight, after which the plane appeared to lose control.

Azerbaijan's general prosecutor stated that Moscow had promised to identify and punish those at fault for the plane crash which led to 38 deaths

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has alleged that the national airline plane that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, criticizing Moscow’s unwillingness to address the issue further. The Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan,