In the early hours of Wednesday, Russian news agencies reported a tragic incident involving a military aircraft crash in Crimea, which resulted in the deaths of six crew members and 23 passengers. The reports, citing information from the Defense Ministry, shed light on the details of this unfortunate event.
The aircraft in question, an An-26 military transport plane, was executing a routine flight over the Crimean Peninsula—a region Russia controversially annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Communication with the plane was lost by the military on Tuesday around 6 p.m., raising immediate concerns about its fate.
Details emerged that the Soviet-era turboprop transport plane collided with a cliff, as reported by eyewitnesses at the scene to state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti. The crash site has been a focus of intense investigation as authorities seek to understand the sequence of events leading to the disaster.
The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed that there were seven crew members and 23 passengers aboard the aircraft. However, in the immediate aftermath of the crash, it remained unclear whether any of the crew survived the incident.
This incident is the latest in a troubling pattern of military aviation accidents involving Russian planes, particularly following the Kremlin’s military actions in Ukraine starting in 2022. These accidents have raised questions about the safety and maintenance of Russia’s military fleet.
Images from earlier reports capture an An-26 plane stationed at a base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from March 2014, underscoring the long-standing use of the aircraft in military operations. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured during a meeting on March 30, 2026, continues to face scrutiny as these incidents persist against the backdrop of ongoing military engagements.
The Investigative Committee said it has launched a criminal probe in connection with flight regulations and a search is underway in a mountainous forested area in the Bakhchisarai district.
The Interfax news agency cited the Defense Ministry as saying a suspected technical malfunction may have caused the crash and that there was no “damaging interference” with the aircraft.
Accidents involving Russian military planes have been frequent since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.
Russian officials inspect a building after an Su-34 bomber military plane crashed into a residential area in Yeysk, Russia, in October 2022, killing 15 people. A military plane carrying crew and passengers crashed into a cliff in annexed Crimea on March 31, 2026, according to Russian officials. (Arkady Budnitsky/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
In December, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region, killing seven crew. In October, a MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region, while a Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in the Siberian region of Irkutsk in April 2025.
In October 2022, a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area of Yeysk, a Russian city on the Azov sea, sparking a massive fire and killing 15 people.
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