A flight tracker shows the route of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (25 December). Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was travelling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny before it made an emergency landing at Aktau airport on Christmas Day.

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

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.