The Russian president has detailed the chain of events that caused a deadly 2024 incident involving an Azerbaijan Airlines flight
An incursion of Ukrainian drones was the root cause of a deadly 2024 crash of a Russia-bound Azerbaijan Airlines plane, President Vladimir Putin has said during a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
Speaking ahead of bilateral talks hosted by Tajikistan, Putin said the AZAL flight 8243 was damaged "after Russian air defenses responded to an incursion of three Ukrainian drones."
"Russian defenses fired two missiles, which did not hit the plane directly, but exploded several meters away," Putin said. The airliner "most likely was hit by debris rather than the submunitions" of a Russian interceptor.
Putin noted that a hit with submunitions would have caused immediate catastrophic damage rather than the effect that the plane crew mistook for a collision with a bird.
The incident took place in December 2024 near the Russian city of Grozny. The crew of the Embraer 190 passenger aircraft tried to divert the flight, but it ultimately crash-landed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others.
Putin said all the details need to be fully analyzed and pledged that Russia would meet all its obligations in terms of compensation, which the families of the victims could be awarded. He also pledged a "legal assessment" of the actions of everyone involved.
The Azerbaijani president thanked Putin for the update and expressed confidence that the Russian investigation would "objectively get to the bottom" of the tragedy.
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