A Russian An-26 military transport aircraft crashed into a cliff in Crimea on Tuesday evening, killing all 29 people on board, according to the Russian defence ministry. The crash occurred around 18:00 Moscow time during a scheduled flight over the Crimean Peninsula, with contact lost shortly before the incident.
The defence ministry confirmed that 23 passengers and six crew members died in the crash. Russian news agencies, citing initial assessments, reported that technical problems are believed to have caused the accident. No survivors have been found.
The An-26, a twin-engine turboprop aircraft first introduced in the late 1960s, has been involved in several deadly crashes over the past decade. This includes a 2022 crash in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region that killed one person, and a 2020 training flight in northeastern Ukraine that killed 26 of 27 on board.
Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been the site of increased military activity. The crash adds to a history of incidents involving the An-26, which is also used for civilian freight operations.
