The Azerbaijani carrier Azerbaijan Airlines announced that the cause of the plane crash in Aktau, Kazakhstan, was "external physical and technical interference." Earlier, there were accusations against the Russians of using anti-aircraft defenses in connection with Ukrainian drone attacks.

The leader of Azerbaijan criticized the Russian response to the crash of a passenger jet that Azerbaijani officials said had most likely been hit by Russian air defenses.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev asserted on Sunday that the recent crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft was the result of an unintentional missile strike by Russian forces. Aliyev criticized