Eight Russian service members — rather than the six initially reported by the Ministry of Defense — were killed on Sept. 29 when a Tu-95MS long-range bomber crashed in the Amur Region. The Insider has established that at least three long-range aviation officers were among the dead: Andrei Lobanov, Fedor Pavlyukov, and Andrei Gerasimov. Ukraine links all three to Tu-95MS combat missions.
On Oct. 4, the local outlet Port Amur was the first to report that the death toll had risen to eight, adding that nine service members had been on board and that two of the dead had not been found right away. Mikhail Piven, head of the Mazanovsky District in the Amur Region, soon published a photograph featuring portraits of those killed. The Ministry of Defense had initially reported six dead and one hospitalized.
According to the captions under the portraits, the dead include Andrei Lobanov, Vladislav Moskovskikh, Artur Enokyan, Mikhail Kotyshev, Sergei Moisevich, Vladimir Kelip, Fedor Pavlyukov, and Andrei Gerasimov. Piven said local authorities intend to ask the long-range aviation command to put the crew forward for state honors.
Three of the dead appeared in a Ukrainian database
The Insider cross-checked the data on those killed against the Ukrainian database Russian Torturers, a project launched in 2022 on the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Its creators say the entries are verified by Ukrainian law enforcement or intelligence agencies.
As of November 2025, Major Andrei Lobanov was listed in the database as deputy commander of a Tu-95MS squadron in Russia’s 182nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, based at Ukrainka airfield. The database claims that he directly commanded the unit and personally took part in combat missions.
Lieutenant Colonel Fedor Pavlyukov is listed as deputy commander for flight training for the same 182nd Regiment. From August 2021 to April 2024, he commanded a Tu-95MS squadron. The database’s creators say Pavlyukov was responsible for preparing flight crews for combat missions and directly commanded the unit. As early as March 2022, Ukrainian intelligence had placed Pavlyukov on a list of Russian long-range aviation pilots suspected of direct participation in the war against Ukraine.
Major Andrei Gerasimov is listed as commander of a Tu-95MS squadron in the 121st Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment. The database claims he directly commanded the unit and personally took part in combat missions.
Ukrainian serviceman and blogger Anatoliy Shtefan (“Stirlitz”) also claimed that at least three of those killed were involved in organizing and carrying out missile strikes on Ukraine, though he did not specify which of those killed he had in mind.
The Sept. 29 plane crash
The Tu-95MS crashed on Sept. 29 during a training flight near the village of Krasnoyarovo in the Mazanovsky District. The Ministry of Defense said the plane had been flying without weapons and went down “in an uninhabited area.” The local government in the Amur Region said the crew steered the aircraft away from residential areas in order to avoid causing further casualties, and no one on the ground was hurt. The ministry sent an Aerospace Forces commission to investigate the crash. No publicly confirmed findings have established its cause.
Ukrainka airfield, where the 182nd Regiment is based, has taken on particular importance for Russia’s long-range aviation over the past year. The Insider previously reported that most of Russia’s long-range bombers (that are still able to fly) were redeployed from the western part of the country to the Far East following Ukraine’s behind-the-lines Operation Spiderweb.
As a result, Ukrainka became the main base for operational Tu-95MS aircraft, significantly complicating combat missions. In order to launch missiles at targets in Ukraine, the aircraft must fly upwards of 12,000 kilometers round-trip, refueling at the Engels or Olenya air bases in western Russia. A typical mission thus lasts around 23 hours, putting significant strain on the aging aircraft.
