Russian troops died in a Crimea An-26 crash, while a second jet was lost in a separate incident, deepening pressure on Vladimir Putin

The Soviet-designed military transport turboprop aircraft crashed into a cliff, sources at the scene told state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti.

A Russian military transport plane crashed in Crimea, killing all 29 people on board, Russian investigators said on Wednesday. The cause was most likely a technical malfunction, they said.

The plane crashed in a mountainous forest area not far from Crimea's capital, Simferopol. Since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine, incidents involving Russian military planes have occurred frequently.

Ukraine's defence forces have reported strikes on the Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works in temporarily occupied Luhansk Oblast, which is used by Russian forces for military production, as well as on a train echelon and an S-400 Triumf air defence missile launcher in Crimea.

Operators of the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Force struck a base of BM-30 Smerch/Tornado-S multiple rocket launchers of Russian troops in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea,

At 9:23 p.m. Kyiv time, residents in occupied Simferopol heard "two loud bangs" about 10 to 15 seconds apart, the channel said. At 9:35 p.m., a powerful blast was reported near the Hvardiyske airfield;

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces struck a Tornado multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) base on the night of 28-29 March, destroying three BM-30 Smerch/Tornado-S MLRS and a transport-loader vehicle,