An-26 crash in Crimea: Russian general and officers were on board
Photo: Russian Navy Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko (Wikipedia)
Russian Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko was killed in a plane crash in occupied Crimea on March 31. He became the 14th Russian general Russia has lost since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to BBC Russian Service and Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation.
Otroshchenko was on board a military transport An-26 that crashed near the village of Kuibysheve in the Bakhchysarai district.
Who is Otroshchenko
Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko was the commander of a mixed aviation corps of Russia’s Northern Fleet.
His career:
- 2010–2013 — commanded the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet
- Later headed the naval aviation of the Northern Fleet
- Commanded the 45th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Northern Fleet
- Was promoted to lieutenant general in 2019
- Was appointed commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps in 2024
In 2014, he took part in the annexation of Crimea, and later in Russia’s operation in Syria.
What happened to the aircraft
The An-26 crashed on the evening of March 31 in the Bakhchysarai district. Six staff officers were on board along with the general.
Otroshchenko’s death was confirmed by two BBC sources — a Northern Fleet serviceman and a resident of Severomorsk who lost a relative with the rank of major in the crash.
"Yes, he was killed," she said in response to a direct question from journalists.
Elimination of Russian commanders involved in the war against Ukraine
In December 2025, a car belonging to Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, Head of the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff, was blown up 16 km from the Kremlin.
Sky News described the attack as a possible signal from Ukraine to the United States of its ability to strike a senior Russian command.
Earlier, in October 2025, Lieutenant Vasyl Marzoyev, the son of General Arkady Marzoyev, Commander of the Russian 18th Combined Arms Army, was killed in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
His father had previously been served with a notice of suspicion by Ukraine’s Security Service for ordering strikes on residential areas, schools, and hospitals in Kherson.
