Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised on Saturday over the crash of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane, though he stopped short of accepting that it might have been hit by Russian fire. Putin did admit that Russian air defences were at work when the passenger plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing,

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the plane crash in Russian air space on Christmas Day that left 38 people dead in a statement that said Russia was targeting Ukrainian drones over the plane’s planned destination at the time, but stopped short of taking responsibility.