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Azerbaijani media have published a leaked sworn statement from Russian soldier Dmitry Paladichuk, in which he explains that he received orders to open fire on an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) flight during a Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny in December 2024. Paladichuk recounts how he then relayed the order to an operator.
The statement does not explicitly mention the aircraft. It states that a “potential target” was detected by a surveillance station, which could not be visually identified due to heavy fog. The target was then tracked by the radar system, and Captain Paladichuk reported its altitude and speed to the 51st Division's command post. He then received an order by phone to destroy the target and instructed the operator to fire. The first missile missed, after which Paladichuk gave the command to fire a second time.
The full statement reads:
“Regarding the questions posed to me, I, Captain Dmitry Sergeyevich Paladichuk, can state the following: I, the commander of combat vehicle No. 274 and head of the fire team, was on combat duty protecting the city of Grozny from 24 December 2024 to 25 December 2024.
At 05:40 Dec. 25, 2024, I received orders to transition to readiness level No. 1. At 05:48 I reported transition to readiness via mobile phone. Cellular reception at the position was unstable and I had no other reliable means of communication. Fiber-optic cables had been laid but were not connected to the terminal, and there was no digital telephone with a keypad.
At 08:11 the target detection station identified a potential target, which I then locked onto with the radar and reported to the 51st Division command post. At 08:13 I updated its coordinates: azimuth 338°, distance 7,000 m, altitude 490 m, speed 118 m/s, bearing 230°. I was ordered by phone to destroy the target.
The optics could not confirm the target due to heavy fog, which was reported to the command post. At 08:13:30 I ordered the operator to engage. At 08:13:33 the missile cleared the launcher. At 08:13:47 the BM-72V6 [fire] control system reported a miss. At 08:13:48 I ordered a second engagement. According to MRLS data, at first missile launch: azimuth 319°, distance 7,300 m, altitude 697 m, speed 80 m/s. The second missile was launched when the target had the following characteristics: azimuth 311°, distance 8,000 m, altitude 1,300 m, speed 120 m/s.”
The note is authentic and the command knew the object was not a drone
Dmitry Paladichuk did indeed serve in various Russian air defense units, including the 14th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense in Novosibirsk. The Insider has also confirmed that the document is most likely authentic.
The editorial team has obtained a recording of a phone call with Paladichuk, made earlier today, in which he confirmed that he wrote the explanation “to the army commander” “after the missile strike on the plane” because it had been “requested.” He also acknowledged features of his handwriting, such as the distinctive way he writes the letter “ё.” Paladichuk’s voice also matches the one heard in a video released by Azerbaijani media, which appears to capture the order to fire.
It is likely the document was shared by Russia with Azerbaijan as part of the investigation into the incident. The note itself does not reveal anything fundamentally new, as it was already known that the plane had been downed by Russian air defenses. However, this is the first time the name of the officer who received the order and authorized two missile launches has been made public. One notable detail in the report is the speed of the “target”: according to the data Paladichuk transmitted, the object could not have been a drone, as unmanned aircraft do not fly with speeds of 432 km/h at altitudes of 8 km. This suggests that the military had every indication that the object was a manned aircraft.
The note may have been leaked as a result of escalating tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan. On June 27, Russian law enforcement detained more than 50 ethnic Azeris in Yekaterinburg as part of a criminal investigation into contract killings committed between 2001 and 2010.
In response, Baku suspended all Russian cultural events in Azerbaijan and accused Moscow of ethnically motivated violence and extrajudicial killings of Azerbaijani citizens. After multiple Russian nationals were detained in Azerbaijan, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a formal protest and accused Baku of undermining bilateral relations. Azerbaijan responded with a protest of its own.
Two brothers, Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, died while in police custody as part of the raids in Yekaterinburg. Azerbaijani authorities have launched a criminal investigation into their alleged torture and murder following autopsies that were carried out in Baku after the bodies of the deceased were repatriated.
The E190 crash in Kazakhstan
On the evening of Dec. 25, 2024, an Embraer 190AR passenger plane, flight J2‑8243 operated by AZAL and flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board. The crash was caused by a surface-to-air missile explosion, likely launched from a Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system in the manner that Captain Dmitry Sergeyevich Paladichuk described in his recently published note. Following a large-scale drone attack on southern Russia that day, the country’s air defense systems had been placed on high alert. Investigators later found shrapnel damage in the wreckage of the plane that was consistent with the detonation of an anti-aircraft missile. The flight crew had also managed to report an “external interference” before losing contact.
Prior to the crash, the aircraft experienced disruptions in its navigation systems, including loss of GPS and ADS-B signals. It veered off course, circled, descended, and then rapidly lost altitude. The crew attempted an emergency landing near Aktau but was ultimately unable to bring the plane down safely.