You're reading: Gunmen shot down transport aircraft outside Slovyansk, not surveillance plane

Members of unlawful armed groups in Donetsk region shot down a Ukrainian aircraft in Sloviansk on Friday, but this was not an An-30 surveillance plane, but an An-26 transport aircraft, spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation Vladyslav Selezniov has said.

 The An-26 plane was carrying a humanitarian cargo, which was put together by volunteers, he said on Friday evening.

According to Selezniov, the pilots tried to take the plane away from populated arrears, works are being carried out on the site of the crash.

At the same time, the spokesman said he had no information about the condition of the aircraft crew.

As reported, Sloviansk militants said they managed to shoot down a surveillance aircraft during fighting that still continues near the village of Mykolaivka and Semenivka.

According to eyewitnesses cited on Sloviansk’s Twitter account, the shot-down aircraft is Antonov An-30. “The plane is nose diving towards Mykolaivka. And is gliding down, its left engine knocked off,” the statement said.

According to the eyewitnesses cited by the author of the Twitter post, the aircraft’s pilots ejected and parachuted in a lake area. The plane crashed near Drobysheve (Krasny Lyman district).

The Twitter post contains a link to a video that shows the aircraft being shot down and its right engine catching fire.

An-30 is a surveillance aircraft used for aerial photography. It was designed by Antonov Design Bureau in cooperation with Beriev Design Bureau. An-30 is a modification of An-24 and An-26 and is designed for aerial photography and aerogeophysical survey.