Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan's president for a "tragic incident" that happened in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed after air defenses were used against Ukrainian drones.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people were killed.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had mistakenly shot it down.