Azerbaijan's president says Russia must accept blame for plane crash

• The crash happened near the Kazakh city of Aktau after flight J2-8243 had diverted following attempts to land in Chechnya's capital Grozny, Russia, where the Kremlin has said Russian air defense systems were firing to repel Ukrainian drones.

Driving the news: "We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia. This is a fact, and no one can deny this fact," Aliyev said in a state TV interview, according to a transcript posted to the president's website.

• "We are not saying that this was done intentionally, but it was done," he added.

Zoom in: Aliyev said Azerbaijani officials had "clearly expressed our demands" to their Russian counterparts.

• "First of all, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Secondly, it must acknowledge its guilt," he said.
• "Thirdly, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, to the injured passengers and crew members. These are our conditions," Aliyev added.
• "The first of these was fulfilled yesterday. I do hope that the other conditions will also be accepted."

Go deeeper: What to know about the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash