BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has extended his condolences to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, following the tragic loss of lives in the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane on December 25, Trend reports.
"More and more details regarding the horrific crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight are emerging. I extend my condolences to President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan.
Every human life is valuable, and every loss of life deserves a thorough investigation to establish the truth. We can see how the clear visual evidence at the crash site points to Russia's responsibility for the tragedy.
If Russia decides to spread lies in the same way that it did in the MH17 case, we will need to consolidate all international pressure on Moscow in order to establish the truth and ensure accountability," President Zelenskyy wrote on his page on X.
To note, AZAL's Embraer 190 passenger plane on the Baku-Grozny route crashed 3 km away from Aktau airport on December 25.
A total of 67 people (62 passengers and 5 crew members) were on board the Embraer 190 airplane, flying Baku-Grozny, which crashed in Aktau.
Following the crash of the passenger airplane near Aktau, 27 people were hospitalized. Of them, 15 people are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 8 of the Russian Federation, and 3 of the Kyrgyz Republic. The identity of one person has not been established yet.
Of the victims hospitalized, 11 are being treated in the intensive care unit, 13 in the traumatology department, 2 in the neurosurgery department, and 1 in the surgical department. These persons are under the control of professional doctors from Kazakhstan and those expelled from Azerbaijan and Russia. They were provided with prompt and specialized medical and psychological treatment.
Both crew pilots as well as the flight stewardess were lost, but two crew members survived.
December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Azerbaijan.