A Russian military plane has crashed in the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, killing 29 people on board, the Russian defence ministry has reported.
The wreckage of the An-26 aircraft was found after the plane lost contact with authorities during a routine flight. The ministry has attributed the crash to a technical failure, indicating there was no external damage to the aircraft, thus ruling out missiles, drones, or birds as causes.
There were seven crew members and 23 passengers on board when the An-26 went down over Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed the incident and announced an inquiry into flight safety violations related to the crash.
Communication with the plane was lost at about 18:00 local time on Tuesday, and search and rescue efforts led to the discovery of wreckage. Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident.
The An-26, a Soviet-era military aircraft, is primarily used for transporting heavy cargo and passengers over short to medium distances. It is manufactured by the Ukrainian aerospace company Antonov and has been in use since the late 1960s, having been involved in several fatal incidents over the decades.
This incident in Crimea is particularly significant given the ongoing conflict between Ukrainian and Russian forces, which has seen numerous aircraft incidents amid the turbulence of warfare. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently called for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Crimea as part of any ceasefire discussions.
