President Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe, Azerbaijan, admitted Russia’s fault as he laid out the bases of the Azerbaijani plane crash that occurred on Christmas Day in 2024.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 from Baku crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. The Embraer 190 carried 67 citizens of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and five crew members.

At a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, Putin confirmed that the relevant authorities are nearing completion of the investigation into the catastrophe “caused by several factors.”

The president disclosed Russian forces had been tracking three Ukrainian drones that crossed the federation’s border during the night of the catastrophe.

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The second factor involved “technical malfunctions in Russia’s air defence system,” as two missiles that were launched did not hit the aircraft directly.

“Had that happened, the plane would have crashed immediately. They exploded meters away,” he noted. “The damage was caused mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by missile fragments.”

According to Putin, the pilot thought the impact was a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers, and recorded by the black box.

The Russian leader said the pilot, as heard on the recordings, was advised to make an emergency landing in Makhachkala, but he decided to return to his home base and then to Kazakhstan.

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Putin apologized again to Azerbaijan and promised that Moscow would do everything to assuage feelings, including compensation payments and a legal assessment of the actions of all officials involved.

In his response, President Aliyev thanked his Russian counterpart for overseeing this situation, recalling that the airliner went down as he was flying to a meeting in St Petersburg and had to turn back.

Aliyev said despite the tragedy, the trade and economic ties between both nations have developed significantly in 2025, with similar improvements in all other areas of bilateral relations.

In July, the president announced Azerbaijan’s plan to file lawsuits in international courts against Russia after repeatedly accusing Moscow of covering up the details of the mishap and refusing to admit guilt.

Twenty living Israeli hostages are due for release from captivity in Gaza under a ceasefire deal with Hamas. Militants kidnapped them during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel — the deadliest in the country’s history. Here are their profiles:

– Matan Angrest, 22 –

Sergeant Matan Angrest was captured in his tank near the border with the Gaza Strip after trying to stop Hamas commandos from crossing into Israel near the Nahal Oz base. Angrest, who comes from Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel, is a keen supporter of the Maccabi Haifa football team, according to his family.
A video published in April 2025 by his family shows the moment he was abducted from his tank. His family had planned a trip to Dubai to celebrate the end of his military service.

– Gali and Ziv Berman, 28–

The Berman twins were abducted in the youth area of the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which Hamas attackers set on fire. The inseparable brothers worked together in music production and supported the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool football clubs. Their parents and elder brother survived the attack.

– Elkana Bohbot, 36 –

Elkana Bohbot was one of the producers of the Supernova music festival, alongside his childhood friends Michael and Osher Waknin. Along with nearly 370 other people, they were killed in the Hamas attack on the site.
Married to a Colombian woman and father of one boy, Bohbot lived in Mevasseret Tzion, near Jerusalem. Colombian President Gustavo Petro granted him Colombian nationality in November 2023, a month after the attack.

His wife, Rebecca Gonzalez, said in February 2025 that she had received proof of life from former hostage Ohad Ben Ami, released on 8 February.
At the time of his abduction, Bohbot was planning to open an ice cream stall in a Tel Aviv market, according to his parents. In May, he appeared in a video circulated by Hamas alongside another hostage, Yossef-Haim Ohana. He did not speak but appeared visibly weak.

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– Rom Braslavski, 21 –

Rom Braslavski, an Israeli-German from Jerusalem, was working as a security guard at the Supernova music festival when it was attacked in the early hours of 7 October.
Between 10:30 a.m., when he last contacted his mother, and 1:30 p.m., when he disappeared, he stayed at the scene, helping to protect others, according to witnesses who escaped. Both his hands were injured during the attack.
In August 2025, Hamas ally Islamic Jihad published a video showing Braslavski looking frail and speaking under duress.

– Nimrod Cohen, 21 –

Hamas videos showed Nimrod Cohen being dragged with three other soldiers from his assault tank, which had faulty brakes, near the Nahal Oz kibbutz. The three other soldiers — Omer Neutra, Oz Daniel, and Shaked Dahan — were killed, and their bodies taken to Gaza. Dahan’s body was later repatriated to Israel.
Cohen, from Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, always carried a Rubik’s cube, which his mother now keeps — partially burned — from his tank. His parents have been active in raising awareness of the hostages’ plight and pressing for their release.

– David and Ariel Cunio, 35 and 28 –

Israeli-Argentinian brothers David and Ariel Cunio were kidnapped along with several relatives while hiding in the safe room of David’s home in the Nir Oz kibbutz. Gunmen set fire to the house to force them out, then took eight people hostage — the largest number from a single family in the 7 October attack. Six relatives have since been released.
Israeli film director Tom Shoval presented A Letter to David, a tribute, at the Berlin Film Festival in February. The documentary later won the Ophir Award, Israel’s most prestigious film honour.
In 2013, David and his twin brother Eitan starred in Shoval’s film Youth. Eitan escaped the attack by hiding in his shelter at Nir Oz. The brothers share identical tattoos — three small dark green stars on their wrists.
At the Berlin festival, several actors and directors held up a photo of David Cunio on the red carpet.

– Evyatar David, 24 –

Evyatar David’s parents learnt that he had been taken hostage into Gaza from a photo posted on Telegram, his face illuminated by torchlight.
He was at the Supernova festival with his childhood friend Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was also taken hostage and is believed to be alive.
A music lover from Kfar Saba in central Israel, David was working in a café and saving for a trip to Thailand before his abduction.
In August 2025, Hamas released a propaganda video showing him severely undernourished and holding a shovel, claiming he was digging his own grave.

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– Guy Gilboa Dalal, 24 –

Guy Gilboa Dalal was abducted from the Supernova festival, his first rave party, along with three friends, including Evyatar David.
His family quickly learnt of his kidnapping from a video showing him and David tied up in a Gaza tunnel.
A hostage freed in June during an Israeli army operation said Gilboa Dalal had been injured by his captors.
He and David were shown in a February 2025 Hamas video watching a hostage release ceremony before being locked in a car, pleading for their freedom.
On 5 September, he appeared in another Hamas video with hostage Alon Ohel in a tunnel. A lover of Japanese culture, he had been studying the language with hopes of visiting Japan one day.

– Maxim Herkin, 37 –

Israeli-Russian national Maxim Herkin moved to Israel from Ukraine with his mother. He lived in Tirat Carmel, northern Israel, and is the father of a five-year-old girl who lives with her mother in Russia.
Before being kidnapped from the Supernova festival, he messaged his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.”
In spring 2025, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing Herkin lying down and apparently injured, with his head and left arm covered in blood-stained bandages.

– Eitan Horn, 39 –

Eitan Horn, from Argentina, was kidnapped with his elder brother Yair from the latter’s home in Nir Oz kibbutz.
He lived in Kfar Saba and worked in education, involved in youth movements. His family had emigrated from Argentina years earlier.
His brother, Yair, who is diabetic, was released in late February 2025.

– Segev Kalfon, 27 –

Segev Kalfon, from Dimona in southern Israel, worked with his parents at their bakery in Arad, in the Negev desert.
A childhood friend who attended the Supernova festival with him said Kalfon was captured as he tried to hide in the bushes along Route 232, the only exit from the festival, running parallel to the Gaza border.
A released hostage told Kalfon’s family he had spent time in captivity with him.

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– Bar Kuperstein, 23 –

During the Hamas attack on the Supernova festival, army nurse Bar Kuperstein, who turned 23 in April, stayed behind to help the wounded before being abducted.
He was a festival staff member but was not on duty that day.
Videos showing him bound appeared soon after the attack.
Kuperstein, from Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, took on major responsibilities at home after his father, Tal Kuperstein, was left disabled in an accident. His father has since partially regained the ability to speak and move and has been longing for his son’s return.
A rescue worker like his father, Bar once saved his grandfather’s life during a heart attack — just two months before being taken hostage.

– Omri Miran, 48 –

Israeli-Hungarian therapeutic masseur Omri Miran was taken from his home in Nahal Oz kibbutz in front of his wife, Lichay, and their two small daughters.
He appeared in an undated Hamas video released on 27 April 2024, saying, “I have been in Hamas captivity for 202 days. The situation here is unpleasant and difficult, and there are many bombs.”
Appearing to speak under duress, he urged his family to pressure the Israeli government to reach a deal.
His father, Dani, told AFP he grew a beard in solidarity with his son. Miran later appeared in another Hamas video released on 23 April 2025.

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– Eitan Mor, 25 –

Security guard Eitan Mor was abducted from Supernova.
The son of a practising Jewish family in the Kiryat Arba settlement in the occupied West Bank, his father, Tzvika Mor, founded the Forum of Hope — a group of hostages’ parents opposed to a deal with Hamas.

– Yosef Haim Ohana, 25 –

Yosef-Haim Ohana, from Kiryat Malakhi in southern Israel, was working as a barman at Supernova and planned to study sports coaching.
He was seen trying to help injured people before attempting to flee. His brother, Acher-Yitzhak, died of cancer at age seven.
Ohana appeared in a Hamas video in May 2025 alongside hostage Elkana Bohbot.

– Alon Ohel, 24 –

A talented pianist with Serbian and German nationality, Alon Ohel planned to begin music studies after returning from a trip to Asia.
He was abducted at Supernova while trying to hide with three other young men.
From the village of Lavon in northern Israel, his family said in February 2025 that they had received proof of life from released hostages, who said he was wounded and untreated.

– Avinatan Or, 32 –

Dual British-Israeli national Avinatan Or comes from a religious Jewish family of seven children in the Shilo settlement, West Bank.
His partner, Noa Argamani, was abducted with him at Supernova but was freed in an Israeli military operation in June 2024.
He was planning to move in with her in Beersheba, where he studied engineering.

– Matan Zangauker, 25 –

Matan Zangauker was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz kibbutz with his Israeli-Mexican girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released in November 2023 during the first truce of the two-year war.
Zangauker’s mother, Einav, and Gritzewsky have since become prominent advocates for the hostages’ cause.
Zangauker enjoys aeromodelling and worked on the kibbutz’s medical cannabis farm.

Authorities in Toledo, Ohio, United States, are searching for a 45-year-old woman, Jeanita Hopings, accused of breaking into her boyfriend’s home and attacking him with a sharp object, causing serious injuries to his genitals.

As reported by PEOPLE on Thursday, warrants issued for Hopings’ arrest show she faces charges of felonious assault and aggravated burglary in connection with the October 7 incident.

Investigators allege that Hopings “forcefully kicked open the front door” of her boyfriend’s home before entering “without permission,” according to one of the warrants.

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Once inside, she allegedly attacked the victim with an “unknown instrument,” inflicting a deep wound.

“The victim’s testicle was clearly exposed as the result of the laceration,” the warrant stated.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police confirmed.

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Hopings has not yet been arrested and has not entered a plea to the charges. Court records from Lucas County indicate that she has no prior felony history, though she has previously faced several traffic-related misdemeanour offences.

Police say Hopings remains at large as the investigation continues.