A Russian military aircraft has crashed in Ukraine’s Crimea, killing all of the 29 people on board, Russia’s Defence Ministry has reported.
The wreckage of the An-26 plane was discovered after it lost contact with air traffic authorities.
Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti report that it was simply a routine flight.
We know so far that the aircraft encountered technical problems before crashing into a cliff.
The plane was carrying six crew members and 23 passengers.
There are no known survivors.
A search and rescue operation later located the crash site.
Missiles, drones or bird strikes are not openly suspected by the Defence Ministry, which reported no signs of external damage.
The An-26 is a Soviet-designed transport aircraft primarily used for military purposes, including carrying cargo and limited numbers of passengers over short to medium distances.
It is produced by the Ukrainian aerospace manufacturer Antonov and has been in service since the late 1960s — though it has been involved in multiple fatal accidents.
For instance, 2020, 26 people (mostly cadets) were killed when a Ukrainian An-26 crashed near Kharkiv.
A year later, 28 people died the same way in Russia’s Far East, and in 2022, another crash in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region claimed one life.
