• Communication with plane lost at about 6pm local time.
• Search team has found the site of the catastrophe.
• Six crew members, 23 passengers on board were killed.

A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed into a cliff in Crimea, killing 29 people on board, due to a possible technical malfunction, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Wednesday, according to news agencies.

TASS news agency, quoting the ministry, said communication with the aircraft was lost at about 6pm local time (1500 GMT) on Tuesday on a planned flight over Crimea. The peninsula, covered in sweeping mountains leading down to the coast of the Black Sea, was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

“The defence ministry reported that a search team found the site of the catastrophe,” TASS reported. “According to a report from the site, six crew members and 23 passengers on board were killed.”

The ministry report did not say how many people were on board, but it made no mention of any survivors on the An-26, a light tactical military transport that has for decades been a mainstay that can carry cargo and up to 40 passengers over short and medium distances.

“There was no impact on the aircraft,” TASS quoted the ministry as saying, implying that objects like missiles, drones and birds were not involved.

“The preliminary cause of the crash is a technical malfunction. A commission from the military is working at the site,” it said.

Russia’s defence ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside normal business hours.

The An-26 has been in service since the late 1960s and has also been used by airlines to carry freight, but the model has been involved in a number of deadly crashes over the last decade.

A Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a technical flight in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region in 2022, killing one person. Another aircraft crashed on a training flight in northeastern Ukraine in 2020, killing all but one of the 27 people on board.

Eight people, including five Russians, were killed when an An-26 crashed in South Sudan in 2020. Four of 10 people on board were killed when an An-26 crashed on landing in Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2017.

• France blocks airspace for military flights carrying supplies to Israel.
• Italy denies US aircraft landing permission at Sicily air base.
• Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran strikes.

France and Italy have pushed back against some US-Israeli military operations, sources said on Tuesday, as US President Donald Trump criticised Nato allies in Europe as unhelpful in the month-long war in Iran, highlighting divisions.

The decisions came against a backdrop of tensions between Washington and key partners over the war. Earlier this month, Trump called longtime Nato allies “cowards” over their lack of support. On Tuesday, he slammed countries that did not help in the US-Israeli strikes.

France says no

Trump accused France of blocking aircraft carrying military supplies to Israel from flying over its territory, writing on Truth Social that France had been “VERY UNHELPFUL”.

The French presidency said it was surprised by the post and said its decision was consistent with France’s policy since the conflict began.

A Western diplomat and two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier that the refusal, which happened at the weekend, was the first time France had done this since the start of the conflict on February 28.

The sources said Israel had wanted to use France’s airspace to transport US weapons to be used in the war against Iran.

Israel’s defence ministry accused France of actively obstructing the transfer of munitions to Israel, according to a statement.

It said the French ban was imposed despite prior coordination and assurances that the munitions were intended solely for use against Iran, adding that the effort was critical to European security.

The ministry said Israel would cut all defence procurement from France and would have no new engagement with the French military. French arms sales to Israel are relatively small, and it was unclear whether the move would affect French troops serving with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

Italy denies permission

Italy last week denied permission for US military aircraft to land at the Sigonella air base in Sicily before heading to the Middle East, sources said.

According to the Corriere della Sera daily, which first reported the news, “some US bombers” had been due to land at the base in eastern Sicily before flying on to the Middle East.

Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto later denied any rift with Washington or any change in policy. He posted a message on X to say that US airbases remained active, but that Washington needed special permission for uses outside existing agreements.

Spain is most vocal against war

Meanwhile, Spain defended its decision to fully close its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been among the most vocal critics of the US and Israeli strikes and Defence Minister Margarita Robles said Spain will only allow for the use of its bases for the collective defence of Nato allies.

Trump also singled out Britain as being unhelpful, just as Buckingham Palace confirmed King Charles and Queen Camilla will pay a state visit to the US in late April.

He wrote on Truth Social: “All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the US, we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.”

The United States, France, Italy, Spain and Britain are all Nato members, as is Germany, which hosts Ramstein, the largest US base in Europe.

Germany said early in the war there were no restrictions on the US using the base, though the issue has been debated after President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he believed the war was illegal.

Iran’s Army says its air defense forces have shot down an American MQ-9 unmanned strategic aircraft over the country’s central city of Isfahan and a LUCAS drone over Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.

In a statement on Tuesday, Iran’s Army said that Isfahan air defenses managed to successfully shoot and destroy a US-made MQ-9 Reaper, which belonged to the American-Israeli aggressors, over the city in the early hours of the day.

MQ-9 is an unmanned aerial vehicle designed for long-endurance surveillance.

In a separate statement, Iran’s Army said that its air defenses also managed to shoot and destroy a Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) over Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf at 10:30 a.m. local time.

The LUCAS drones are made in the United States but they are in fact a reverse-engineered copy of the kamikaze Iranian drone called Shahed.

With the latest interceptions, the number of hostile drones destroyed by the Iranian Armed Forces’ integrated air defense network since the beginning of the ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression has reached 147.

The United States and Israel started a fresh round of aerial aggression on Iran on February 28, some eight months after they carried out unprovoked attacks on the country.

The attacks led to the martyrdom of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as well as military commanders.

Hundreds of civilians, including women and children, have also been killed in the war so far.

Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the strikes by launching barrages of ballistic missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on US bases in regional countries.