Source: Africa Publicity
A top Russian air force commander, Alexander Otroshchenko, reportedly died with 29 others when a military transport aircraft crashed in Russian-controlled Crimea.
Russian media outlets reported about Otroshchenko’s death on Monday, April 6, 2026, citing a senior official
Otroshchenko, commander of the 45th Army of the Northern Fleet’s Air Force and Air Defence, died in the incident, Andrei Chibis, governor of the northern Murmansk region where the fleet is based, was quoted as saying.
The An-26 aircraft was conducting a scheduled flight over the peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, when military officials lost contact with the plane around 6pm on Tuesday.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated shortly afterwards that the preliminary cause was a technical malfunction.
Sources at the crash site, speaking to state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti, confirmed that the plane plummeted into a cliff face.
The Investigative Committee previously said it has launched a criminal probe on the charges of violating flight regulations, and a search operation was underway in a mountainous forested area in Crimea.
“There was no impact on the aircraft,” TASS quoted the ministry as saying, implying that objects like missiles, drones and birds were not involved.
