What the Chuhuiv An-26 crash took from Ukraine's air force
A retrospective on the training flight that ended in Kharkiv Oblast and the national mourning that followed.
What does a country lose when a training flight becomes a disaster? On 25 September 2020, an An-26Sh military aircraft crashed near Chuhuiv in Kharkiv Oblast while on approach to land. Those aboard included cadets of the Kharkiv Air Force University, and 26 people were killed.
The aircraft was on a training flight. As reported at the time, more than 20 people died, among them the cadets. The later account is precise: 27 people were on board, and one survived. The aircraft, tail number 76, belonged to the 203rd Training Aviation Brigade and was destroyed.
The crash turned a routine exercise into a national loss. On 26 September, Ukraine declared a day of mourning.
The people on board were trainees, and that defines the loss. Cadets were learning to fly in the institution meant to supply the air force with its future personnel. The public response, a formal day of mourning, treated the crash as a matter for the whole country and not only for one unit or one university.
Looking back, the day is best remembered for those figures: 27 aboard, 26 dead, one survivor. They remain the plainest record of what happened near Chuhuiv on 25 September 2020.
