Azerbaijan president claims Russia shot at plane before crash that killed at least 38

Azerbaijan's president has said Russia shot down a passenger jet and has accused Moscow of trying to cover up the issue for several days.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people were killed in the crash while 29 survived.

President Ilham Aliyev said the plane had been damaged due to “unintentional” shooting from the ground in Russia. He said he regretted that “some circles” in Russia had tried to “hush up” the truth about the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane by sowing false narratives about its causes.

Mr Aliyev told Azerbaijani state television: “We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia... We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done.”

He said the airliner was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and was “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare”. Mr Aliyev said he was “upset and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials. “Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions,” he said.