Daily US Times: Ukrainian officials say at least 22 people, most of them air cadets, have been killed in a military plane crash.

The military plane, an Antonov-26, came down near the eastern city of Kharkiv as it was landing.

The aircraft was carrying cadets from Kharkiv Air Force University and was on a training flight. Emergency ministry officials say 27 people were on board.

Two were seriously injured, and a search operation is continuing for three missing people.

An investigation started to find out the cause of the crash.

The emergency ministry officials say the plane came down about 2km (1.2 miles) from a military airport in the town of Chuhuiv.

There is no suggestion or indication that the crash is linked to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Chuhuiv is about 60 miles (100 km) from the front line where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists.

Fire broke out at the site and was later extinguished.

Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko told AFP news agency: “It’s a shock. At the moment it’s impossible to establish the cause.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to travel to the region on Saturday and an investigation is under way.

According to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kharkiv regional governor Oleksiy Kucher said preliminary information suggested that one of the pilots had reported failure in one engine before the crash, but that this should not have been a critical situation.

An eyewitness told Reuters that he had seen a man in flames running from the wreckage.

He said: “Another car stopped behind us. We took a fire extinguisher and ran with another driver to help him.”

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