The Kremlin has said that the Russian president "apologized for the tragic incident" and expressed his "deep and sincere condolences" to the victims' families.

As many as 38 persons were killed in the deadly crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines-operated Embraer 190 plane near the Aktau city of Kazakhstan.

Azerbaijan Airlines suspended more than half of its Russian schedule over safety concerns after a plane headed to Grozny this week was reportedly damaged by Russian air-defense systems before crashing as it attempted to land in Kazakhstan.

Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

Thirty-eight of 67 onboard flight from Baku to the Chechen city Grozny believed to have been killed. Russian authorities cite bird strike.

A day after an Azerbaijani airliner’s crashed in Kazakhstan, aviation experts say the plane most likely went down after being hit by Russian air defense systems.

The U.S. officials added that if the preliminary information proves to be true, it would further underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.