Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the December 25 Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that claimed 38 lives, the Kremlin’s press service reported.

The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster, although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane.

Russia launches 31 drones overnight: 20 destroyed, 11 off target — Ukrainian Air Force It was noted that another 11 drones did not reach their targets. Russia launched the missiles from the Voronezh and Kursk oblasts of the Russian Federation,

Russia's aviation watchdog said the captain of the plane had been offered other airports at which to land, but had chosen Kazakhstan's Aktau.