White House spokesman John Kirby has said the US has seen "early indications" that Russia may have been responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December, killing 38 people.

Russia's head of aviation Dmitry Yadrov claimed a Ukrainian drone attack was underway in Grozny before the plane crashed.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was scheduled to travel from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, a city in the Russian region of Chechnya, on Wednesday, but was diverted and ultimately crashed on the other side of the Caspian Sea, less than two miles from the airport in Aktau, Kazakhstan.