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Kazakhstan plane crash survivors say they heard bangs before aircraft went down, Putin issues statement

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Kazakhstan plane crash survivors say they heard bangs before aircraft went down, Putin issues statement

Crew members and survivors of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day say they heard at least one loud bang before the aircraft crashed in a ball of fire, heightening speculation that a Russian anti-aircraft missile may have been responsible for the tragedy.

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for the “tragic incident” although he fell short of admitting responsibility for the disaster.

The Embraer 190 passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defense systems against Ukrainian attack drones. At least 38 people were killed while 29 survived.

Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers aboard Flight J2-8243, told Reuters from the hospital that he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing a bang.

Evidence collection efforts are underway at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 27, 2024. (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES BLAMES DEADLY PLANE CRASH ON ‘EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE’ AS RUSSIA SPECULATION GROWS

“After the bang…I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” Rakhimov told the outlet. “It was obvious that the plane had been damaged in some way. It was as if it was drunk – not the same plane anymore.”

Surviving passenger Vafa Shabanova said that there were “two explosions in the sky, and an hour and a half later the plane crashed to the ground.”

Another survivor, Jerova Salihat, told Azerbaijani television in an interview in the hospital that “something exploded” near her leg, per the Associated Press.

Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli , meanwhile, said that after one noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She said that she went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.

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Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. Shortly afterward, he sustained a sudden injury like a “deep wound, the arm was lacerated as if someone hit me in the arm with an ax,” he added. He denied a claim from Kazakh officials that an oxygen canister exploded inside the plane.

Asadov said a landing was denied in Grozny due to fog, so the pilot circled, at which point there were bangs outside the aircraft. The aircraft’s two pilots died in the crash.

“The pilot had just lifted the plane up when I heard a bang from the left wing. There were three bangs,” he told Reuters. 

Flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea.

Video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the seashore, and thick black smoke then rising, Reuters reported. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact. Holes could be seen in the plane’s tail section.

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More than 30 are feared dead following the crash near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau. (Azamat Sarsenbayev)

IT’S ‘VERY UNCLEAR’ WHAT HAPPENED IN AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES CRASH, EX-STATE DEPT OFFICIAL SAYS

On Saturday, Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev via a phone call “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace,” according to a Kremlin readout of the call.

“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said. The Kremlin said the call took place at Putin’s request.

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On Friday, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. had seen some early indications that “would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.” He refused to elaborate, citing an ongoing investigation.

Azerbaijani minister Rashad Nabiyev also suggested the plane was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor accounts.

Preliminary results of Azerbaijan’s probe into the fatal incident suggest the aircraft was struck by a Russian anti-aircraft missile, or shrapnel from such a missile, individuals briefed on the investigation noted, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A source familiar with Azerbaijan’s probe told Reuters that preliminary results indicated the aircraft was hit by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system — electronic warfare systems paralyzed communications on the aircraft’s approach to Grozny, the source stated, according to the outlet.

“No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft,” the source noted, according to Reuters.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the claims that the plane was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said on Friday the plane had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones. The agency said the captain had been offered other airports at which to land, but had chosen Kazakhstan’s Aktau. 

St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov lays a bunch of flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in the memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan’s airport of Aktau, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended flights to eight additional Russian airports after the tragedy.

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The airline noted in a post on X that beginning Dec. 28, flights from Baku to eight Russian airports have been suspended. The announcement comes in addition to the prior suspension of flights between Baku and two other Russian airports.

Fox News’ Alex Nitzberg, Pilar Arias, Elizabeth Pritchett, the Associated Press as well as Reuters contributed to this report.  

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

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Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Sunday braced for what many expect will be a new normal over the next few weeks as the Department of Homeland Security carries out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.

Protesters screamed at heavily-armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.

There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. They later took one man away in handcuffs.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

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People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners in the neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed Wednesday, watching for any signs of federal agents.

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More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but the Twin Cities remained anxious. Minneapolis public schools on Monday will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

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Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said on Sunday that the investigation into Good’s shooting death shouldn’t be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

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Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.

Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.

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Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to a report.

The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday as Israel is on “high alert,” preparing for the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to Reuters, citing multiple Israeli sources. A U.S. official confirmed the call to Fox News Digital but did not provide additional details.

The report comes as nationwide anti-regime demonstrations across Iran hit the two-week mark.

On Saturday, the Iranian regime triggered an internet “kill switch” in an apparent effort to conceal alleged abuses by security forces and as protests against it surged nationwide, according to a cybersecurity expert. The blackout reduced internet access to a fraction of normal levels.

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KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds his end-of-year press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!” according to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters on Saturday, writing on Truth Social that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

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IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

At a news conference Friday, Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure as unrest spreads across the country.

“Iran’s in big trouble,” he said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”

The president said the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence. 

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“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.

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Protests in Iran intensify for the 12th day. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine

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Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 20 more.

Ukraine’s Air Forces say they intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 strike drones struck their targets.

They added that Moscow’s latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.

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Local officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia say the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.

Regional lawmakers say service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximise civilian suffering.

“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelenskyy in a post on X.

He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defence forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.

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“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.”

The Ukrainian leader thanked all units responsible for protecting the country and responding to attacks, and praised their tireless efforts and resilience.

He also called on allies to ensure his embattled country maintains “stable support”, in defence and diplomatic fields as coordinated dialogue efforts continue in search of peace.

Meanwhile, Russia says that one person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on the western city of Voronezh. Officials say a young woman succumbed to her wounds at an intensive care unit of a local hospital after debris from a drone fell on her house during Saturday’s attacks.

They added that at least three others were injured in the attacks which targeted more than 10 residential apartment buildings, private homes and a high school.

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The city of Voronezh lies just 250 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and is home to approximately one million people. The attacks, which Kyiv have yet to confirm, came after the Kremlin’s major offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.

Additional sources • AP

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