MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) – On Saturday, Russia’s Vladimir Putin conveyed his apologies to Azerbaijan’s president following a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace, where an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed after Russian air defenses were activated against Ukrainian drones.

Flight J2-8243 went down in flames near Aktau, Kazakhstan, after it changed course from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reportedly attacking various cities. The crash resulted in the deaths of at least 38 individuals.

According to four sources familiar with the initial findings of the investigation by Azerbaijan, it was reported that Russian air defenses unintentionally shot the aircraft down.

“(President) Vladimir Putin expressed regret for the tragic incident that transpired in Russian airspace and reiterated his heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families, wishing a swift recovery to the injured,” stated the Kremlin.

<p”The drones from Ukraine were attacking Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz at that moment, and Russian air defense systems were engaged in repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin noted.

The Kremlin mentioned that Putin initiated the call to express his apologies.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, remarked that the plane had experienced “external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, leading to a total loss of control and rerouting to Aktau,” as reported by Azerbaijan’s presidential office.

The Embraer EMBR3.SA passenger jet was traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, to Grozny in Russia’s southern Chechnya region before it veered thousands of miles across the Caspian Sea.