Plane crash leaves 29 dead, officials cite possible malfunction

A Russian military transport plane crashed into a cliff in Crimea on Tuesday, killing all 29 people aboard in what officials suspect was a technical malfunction, according to the Associated Press.

The An-26 aircraft struck a cliffside while flying over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, according to state news agency TASS.

Russian authorities announced the crash Wednesday.

The Russian Defense Ministry and the country’s Investigative Committee provided differing accounts of how many people were on board.

The Defense Ministry reported 23 passengers and six crew members were killed, while the Investigative Committee said the aircraft carried 22 passengers and seven crew members. Officials did not explain the discrepancy.

Preliminary information points to a technical malfunction as the likely cause, according to the Defense Ministry.

The crash adds to a series of Russian military aircraft accidents since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In December 2025, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region, killing seven crew members. A MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region in October 2025, and a Tu-22M3 bomber went down in the Irkutsk region in April 2025.

In October 2022, a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area in Yeysk, sparking a fire that killed 15 people.

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