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A Russian Aircraft Crashed in Occupied Crimea, Killing a Lieutenant General and 28 Others
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A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed over occupied Crimea on March 31, killing Lieutenant General Alexande Otroshchenko.
The officer was the commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps and former head of the 45th Air Force and Air Defense Army, according to Dosye Shpiona on April 2.
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Along with the general, 28 other Russians were killed in the incident. The crash occurred on the night of April 1, resulting in a total of 29 fatalities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the event, stating that the casualties included both crew members and passengers.
Early reports suggest the crash was caused by a technical malfunction. However, Russian media outlets citing sources at the scene reported that the aircraft flew into a cliff.
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported a loss of communication with the An-26 transport plane during a scheduled flight over the occupied peninsula.
Russian sources claimed there was no "hit" on the aircraft and dispatched search and rescue teams to the suspected crash site.
Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Otroshchenko was a central figure within the Russian Air Force, having previously served as the commander of the 45th Air Force and Air Defense Army.
His death in the An-26 crash on March 31 represents the loss of a senior leader who held a pivotal role in managing aviation operations.
All individuals on board the aircraft were killed when it went down, further impacting the command structure of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps.
Following the crash of the An-26 on April 1, 2026, it was later confirmed that Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko, commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps, was among the 29 individuals killed in the incident.
Investigations into the crash site indicated that the aircraft struck a cliff, which Russian authorities initially attributed to a technical failure rather than external fire.
This significant loss of high-ranking command personnel occurred simultaneously with reports of a downed Su-34 fighter jet, further intensifying the operational strain on Russian aviation during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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