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Mediazona names 26 more troops killed in March’s crash of an An-26 military transport plane in Crimea

Source: Mediazona

Journalists at the independent Russian outlet Mediazona identified 27 military personnel believed to have died when an An-26 aircraft crashed in annexed Crimea in March.

An-26 crew

  • Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Chornobryvy, 39, aircraft commander;
  • officer Maxim Igorevich Potevskoy, 47, flight instructor;
  • Lieutenant Sergei Alekseevich Pistsov, 25, flight engineer;
  • Senior Lieutenant Nikita Alekseevich Vlasov, 29;
  • Senior Lieutenant Ivan Evgenievich Koryakov, 26;
  • Sergeant Alexander Sergeevich Solovykh, 38.

An-26 passengers who served in the Northern Fleet

  • Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Otroshchenko, 63, commander of the Northern Fleet’s Mixed Aviation Corps;
  • officer Ivan Yurievich Shepelev, 39;
  • officer Alexander Vasilievich Zaitsev, 48;
  • Warrant Officer (michman; the naval equivalent of praporshchik) Sergei Alexandrovich Shumkov, 50;
  • Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vitalievich Boroday, 34;
  • Major Leonid Anatolievich Vikharev, 37, head of the Northern Fleet’s meteorological service for drone operations;
  • officer Dmitry Vladimirovich Primenko, 53;
  • Major Maxim Sergeevich Babykin, 41;
  • Senior Lieutenant Stanislav Alexandrovich Klyuev, 39;
  • Lieutenant Timur Begaristanovich Dzhundugulov, 34;
  • Colonel Igor Vyacheslavovich Davydov, 50;
  • officer Nikolai Nikolaevich Apolonov, 38;
  • Evgeny Anatolievich Dyuzhov, 48, rank unknown;
  • officer Vasily Vasilievich Kolbovsky, 39;
  • officer Evgeny Alexandrovich Kuleznev, 38;
  • officer Alexei Mikhailovich Timchuk, 48, deputy chief of staff of a military unit in Severomorsk;
  • officer Oleg Gennadievich Sorin, 51;
  • officer Vitaly Vyacheslavovich Guryev, 38, who served in Polyarny, Murmansk region;
  • Andrei Valerievich Saltanov, 36, rank unknown — leaked information mentions the 14th Anti-Submarine Ship Brigade in Severomorsk.

Other passengers

  • Lieutenant Colonel Yegor Valerievich Nozdrin, 36, commander of the 2nd Squadron of the 43rd Separate Naval Assault Aviation Regiment, Black Sea Fleet (Saky air base);
  • officer Konstantin Sergeevich Kashkalda, 30, who lived in the village of Hvardiiske in Crimea and in 2021 served or studied at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy.

Among those aboard was Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko, commander of the Northern Fleet’s Mixed Aviation Corps. The An-26 crashed on March 31 with 29 people on board: seven crew members and 22 passengers.

Pro-war Z-bloggers said on March 31 that a Su-34 fighter-bomber had also been lost and that another pilot may have died.

Since the crash, the list of victims and the cause have not been disclosed. One theory holds that the An-26 struck a cliff.

Otroshchenko is the only victim whose name has been officially released. Participants in a tour of Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet’s main base, posted his portrait on social media alongside photographs of 12 other military personnel. Their photos also captured a plaque above the portraits, which said that the servicemen were “Northern Fleet aviation personnel who died in the line of duty in the An-26 aircraft crash on March 31, 2026.” The names, positions, and ranks of the deceased were not visible in the photos.

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