Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Thursday it had foiled several plots by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill high-ranking Russian officers and their families in Moscow using bombs disguised as power banks or document folders.

At least 38 people were killed in an Azerbaijan Airlines crash that was likely caused by Russian antiaircraft fire, according to Ukraine and aviation experts. Photo: Azamat Sarsenbayev/Reuters

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane flew hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Baku to Grozny, and crashed on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Russia's aviation watchdog said a bird strike might have been the cause.

The investigation on the crash of the Embraer E190 while attempting an emergency landing is still ongoing, however reports of a possible involvement of

"No one claims that it was done on purpose," an Azerbaijan official told Reuters. They added their government "expects the Russian side to confess."

The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s south, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

The first fatal accident anywhere in the world involving a passenger jet in 2024 happened on Christmas Day. Thirty-eight passengers and crew died when Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 from the airline’s hub at Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia ‘s Chechnya, crashed short of Aktau airport in Kazakhstan; 29 survived.

Officials in Azerbaijan believe a Russian air defence missile caused the crash of a jet on Christmas Day which killed 38 people, according to multiple media sources.

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight ended up hundreds of miles away from its intended destination with the plane crash resulting in dozens of deaths and many unanswered questions