A Russian military An-26 aircraft has crashed in Crimea, killing all 30 people on board, Russia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed.
The plane, carrying 7 crew members and 23 passengers, lost contact with authorities during a “routine flight,” the ministry told Russian state news agency TASS. Wreckage was later discovered after a search and rescue operation.
Officials said the crash appeared to have been caused by technical problems, with the aircraft reportedly striking a cliff. The Defence Ministry added there was no evidence of external damage, suggesting that missiles, drones, or bird strikes were not involved.
Communication with the plane was lost at approximately 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, Tass reported.
The plane has been in service since the late 1960s and since that time has been involved in several deadly crashes.
A Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a technical flight in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region in 2022, killing one person. Another aircraft crashed on a training flight in northeastern Ukraine in 2020, killing all but one of the 27 people on board.
Eight people, including five Russians, were killed when an An-26 crashed in South Sudan in 2020 and four of 10 people on board were killed when an An-26 crashed on landing in Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2017.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 - a move largely condemned by the international community calling it illegal. It's been a flashpoint since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted Russian military bases on the peninsula, which borders the partly Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded Russia withdraw from Crimea as part of a ceasefire, while a U.S.-backed peace plan in November proposed Kyiv would cede control of the region.
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