Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation after all 29 people aboard a military transport plane were killed when the aircraft crashed into a cliff in occupied Crimea on Tuesday, April 1, 2026.
The Soviet-era An-26 aircraft disappeared from radar at approximately 6 p.m. local time during what officials described as a routine flight over the Crimean Peninsula. Russian military search teams located the wreckage in a mountainous forested area of the Bakhchisarai district following an intensive search and rescue operation.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed the crash and began a criminal probe into flight safety violations. The committee provided casualty figures stating seven crew members and 22 passengers were aboard, which conflicts with Defense Ministry numbers reporting six crew members and 23 passengers killed. No official explanation for the discrepancy has been provided.
“The Defense Ministry reported that a search team found the site of the catastrophe,” state news agency TASS reported. “According to a report from the site, six crew members and 23 passengers on board were killed.”
Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko, commander of the Mixed Aviation Corps of the Northern Fleet, was among the dead, according to BBC’s Russian Service. The crash site’s difficult terrain in the Bakhchisarai district complicated recovery efforts, though officials have confirmed there were no survivors.
Russian military officials moved swiftly to rule out hostile action. The Defense Ministry stated there was no evidence of external damage, language that effectively eliminates missiles, drones, or bird strikes as potential causes. Officials attributed the crash to a preliminary technical malfunction, with a military commission working at the site.
However, a subsequent preliminary investigation pointed away from mechanical failure. A former Russian military pilot said on the Telegram channel Fighterbomber on the Telegram channel Fighterbomber, reported that there were no equipment failures or signs of external impact on the aircraft. The crew initiated a premature descent during their approach and struck a rock face approximately 30 kilometers from the airfield, a finding that points to human error as the probable cause.
The An-26 is a light tactical military transport aircraft manufactured by the Ukrainian aerospace company Antonov that has served in various capacities since the late 1960s. The turboprop plane was designed primarily for military use and can transport cargo along with up to 40 passengers over short and medium distances.
Despite its long service history, the aging aircraft has accumulated a troubling safety record. In 2020, 26 people—including 19 cadets and seven crew members—were killed when a Ukrainian An-26 crashed near Kharkiv during a training flight; only one person survived. That same year, eight people, including five Russians, died when an An-26 went down in South Sudan. In July 2021, 28 people perished when an An-26 crashed in Russia’s Kamchatka region. In 2022, one person died in a crash in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Four of 10 people aboard were killed when an An-26 crashed on landing in the Ivory Coast in 2017.
The incident occurred over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The region features sweeping mountains that descend toward the Black Sea coast, creating treacherous terrain for both aviation and search operations. Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces has continued in the peninsula since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, with Ukrainian strikes largely targeting Russian military bases in the region.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the incident. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly demanded that Russia withdraw from Crimea as part of any ceasefire agreement. In November 2025, a U.S.-backed 28-point peace plan proposed that Kyiv would cede control of the peninsula, though negotiations have stalled over key territorial issues.
The investigation into what caused the technical malfunction that brought down the aircraft continues, with military officials working to determine why the plane lost contact with authorities and crashed into the cliff face.
The April 1 crash adds to a mounting toll of Russian military aviation disasters since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022. In December 2025, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region, killing seven crew members. In October 2025, a MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region. A Tu-22M3 bomber went down in the Siberian region of Irkutsk in April 2025.
In March 2024, a Russian military transport plane with 15 people aboard crashed during takeoff from an air base in western Russia. Perhaps most devastatingly, a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area of Yeysk in October 2022, sparking a massive fire that killed 15 people on the ground.
The frequency of these accidents underscores deep concerns about the maintenance and operational readiness of Russia’s aging military aircraft fleet, particularly as the country continues its protracted military operations in Ukraine. Many of these planes date back to the Soviet era and have remained in service for decades beyond their intended operational lifespans.
The loss of 29 service members and passengers represents one of the deadliest single aviation incidents involving Russian military aircraft in recent years. The crash underscores the mounting toll that aging equipment and sustained military operations have taken on Russia’s defense infrastructure.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on the crash beyond its initial statements to state news agencies.