Putin apologises to Azerbaijan over flight incident amid drone attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over what the Kremlin called a “tragic incident” involving an Azerbaijani aircraft in Russian airspace.

According to Russian state news agency Tass, during a phone call between the two leaders, it emerged that the Azerbaijani passenger plane had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny airport while it was under attack from Ukrainian drones.

The Kremlin statement noted that Russian air defences were actively responding to Ukrainian UAV attacks targeting Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz at the time of the incident.