"The An-26 That Crashed In Crimea Was Not Carrying Ordinary Military Personnel"
- 1.04.2026, 15:12
The expert estimated the probability of an external strike on the plane.
The Russian military transport plane An-26, which crashed in temporarily occupied Crimea on March 31, was probably carrying officers. This opinion was expressed by military expert Yuri Fedorov on the YouTube channel The Breakfast Show.
"The only thing we can assume is that there were no contract workers, no mercenaries, no privates on board the plane - they are not transported on such flights, as a rule. There were probably some command staff, some group of officers flying to Crimea. This is, in fact, what we can say: another not the most serious, not impressive episode of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war," the expert said.
According to him, the disaster occurred, most likely, not as a result of an "external impact" - the impact of Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles, drones and so on. Theoretically, Fedorov noted, the Ukrainian drone could have flown somewhere close to the highway used by Russian military aircraft. However, he emphasized, such a "collision" between a drone and an aircraft is extremely unlikely.
"If we are talking about anti-aircraft missiles, they are unlikely to reach occupied Crimea from Ukraine. And in general, it makes no sense to spend extremely expensive missiles, which are used for Patriot systems (others simply won't get there), in order to shoot down some military aircraft, even if it is carrying personnel.... The costs are much higher than the potential benefit," Fedorov said.
In his opinion, the only explanation for the crash is human error or technical failure, which also depends on humans. As the expert explained, the plane should have been prepared for the flight, properly check the board before departure.
Russian An-26 crash
Reminder, the Russian military transport plane An-26 crashed in Crimea, killing 29 people on board. According to Russian media, citing the Russian Defense Ministry, the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction. It was said that communication with the board was lost on Tuesday, March 31, around 18:00 local time during a scheduled flight over Crimea. The plane then crashed into a cliff. Six crew members and 23 passengers died. It is known that An-26 can carry up to 40 passengers.