Air force cadets among 22 die in Ukraine military plane crash

At least 22 people including military cadets were killed and two others were seriously injured when a Ukrainian air force plane crashed near Kharkiv in the east of the country_ the interior ministry said. Deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko confirmed the death toll_ describing the incident as a  shock _ and saying that the cause of the crash on Friday was being investigated. The plane crashed at around 8.50 pm local time _ two km from the Chuhuiv military air base_ the emergency services said. Footage of the crash released by officials on social media showed the smouldering remains of the Antonov An-26 transport plane.  Most of [the dead] were students at the Kharkiv national air force University_ the air force said in a statement. There were 27 people on board_ 20 cadets and seven crew_ it added. Twenty-two have been confirmed dead_ two are injured and  the search for three more people continues _ the emergency services said. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the crash as a  terrible tragedy and said he would travel to the Kharkiv region on Saturday.  We are urgently creating a commission to investigate all the circumstances and causes of the tragedy_ he wrote on Facebook. Several military planes have crashed in Ukraine during training flights in recent years.