Who was killed aboard the An‑26 in Crimea. Mediazona reveals the names of 27 soldiers in this spring’s military plane crash

A list of the victims’ names has not been published since then, nor have the causes of the incident been disclosed. Sources at government agencies claimed that the plane crashed into a cliff.

After BBC News Russian managed to determine that Lieutenant General Otroshchenko was on board, his death was officially confirmed by Alexander Chibis, governor of the Murmansk region. As of mid-August, Mediazona had learned the names of five additional military personnel who died in the crash in Crimea.

The “Goryushko” public group, which maintains a tally of Russian military casualties independent of Mediazona, discovered a post on the VKontakte social network, with photographs taken during a tour of the city of Severomorsk. On a table beneath a sign reading “Northern Fleet Aviation Personnel Who Died in the Line of Duty in the An-26 Plane Crash on March 31, 2026,” portraits of 13 military personnel were displayed. The surnames, positions, and ranks of the deceased are either missing or not visible in the photo; only nine portraits are fully visible, including that of Lieutenant General Otroshchenko (photo above, centre).

Using facial recognition services, searches of the probate registry, and leaks from Russian databases, Mediazona was able to identify the surnames of 27 of the 29 people on board the crashed An-26.

The An-26 Crew:

• Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Chornobryvy, 39, crew commander.

• Officer Maxim Potevskoy, 47, flight instructor.

• Lieutenant Sergey Pistsov, 25, flight engineer.

• Senior Lieutenant Nikita Vlasov, 29.

• Senior Lieutenant Ivan Koryakov, 26.

• Sergeant Alexander Solovykh, 38.

Passengers on the An-26 who served in the Northern Fleet:

• Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko, 63, commander of the Northern Fleet’s Mixed Aviation Corps.

• Officer Ivan Shepelev, 39.

• Officer Alexander Zaitsev, 48.

• Midshipman Sergey Shumkov, 50.

• Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Boroday, 34.

• Major Leonid Vikharev, 37, head of the Northern Fleet’s UAV meteorological service.

• Officer Dmitry Primenko, 53.

• Major Maxim Babуkin, 41.

• Senior Lieutenant Stanislav Klyuev, 39.

• Lieutenant Timur Dzhundugulov, 34.

• Colonel Igor Davydov, 50.

• Officer Nikolai Apolonov, 38.

• Evgeny Dyuzhov, 48, rank unknown.

• Officer Vasily Kolbovsky, 39.

• Officer Evgeny Kuleznev, 38.

• Officer Alexei Timchuk, 48, deputy chief of staff of a military unit in Severomorsk.

• Officer Oleg Sorin, 51.

• Officer Vitaly Guryev, 38, served in the city of Polyarny in the Murmansk region.

• Andrei Saltanov, 36, rank unknown; leaked databases mention the 14th Anti-Submarine Ship Brigade in Severomorsk.

Other passengers:

• Lieutenant Colonel Yegor Nozdrin, 36, commander of the 2nd Squadron of the 43rd Separate Naval Assault Aviation Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet (Saki Air Base);

• Officer Konstantin Sergeyevich Kashkalda, 30, lived in the town of Gvardeyskoye in Crimea; in 2021, he served or studied at the Federal State Military Educational Institution of Higher Education of the Air Force Command and Staff College “Professor N.E. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy.”