Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev is demanding answers, saying Vladimir Putin's latest apology "isn't enough" and that Moscow must take responsibility.

In the crash’s aftermath, Azerbaijan has unleashed rare and stinging criticism of Russia, with the country’s president saying Moscow’s response has caused “surprise, regret and rightful indignation.”

Azerbaijan's president has confronted Putin over the devastating plane crash that killed 38 people on Christmas Day.

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia, where a second day of fierce fighting was under way.

Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched a new offensive inside Russia's western Kursk border region, going on the attack with substantial forces.

The patriarch of Russia's Orthodox Church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday that the Western world despised Russia and its "alternative path of civilised development".

Russia's invasion, which began in February 2022, has also been a source of religious controversy within the Eastern Orthodox Church and has driven a split among believers in both Russia and Ukraine.Vi