Overview
- The Mi-8 came down about 5 kilometers short of Sokol airfield on September 2, 2026, and the crew steered the aircraft off the highway into a roadside ditch to avoid striking vehicles.
- Video and photos from the scene show the helicopter first touching down on the road, passing rotor blades near a truck, and later resting on its side with tail number visible.
- Regional reports say the helicopter carried three crew members, an election commission official and four journalists and that those aboard suffered only minor bruises and scratches.
- Early accounts conflict on cause: a pro‑Russian military Telegram channel says both engines lost power from fuel exhaustion while other Russian outlets and television have cited a possible hydraulic-system failure and investigators are examining both leads.
- The incident adds to a pattern of Mi-8 emergency landings this year and comes against reporting that Russia has faced aviation-fuel supply disruptions and imported Jet A-1, a context that investigators have not linked directly to this crash.