All 170 passengers and crew on board a Russian airliner died when it crashed in Ukraine today, said an official from the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
The plane, on its way from the Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg, disappeared from radar screens after sending an SOS message.
The Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said helicopters circling the site about 45 kilometres north of the regional town of Donetsk saw the Tu-154 in flames on the ground.
Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 160 passengers and 10 crew were aboard the aircraft belonging to Pulkovo Airlines.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian ministry said that, according to preliminary information, a fire broke out in the plane at 10,000 metres and the crew decided to make an emergency landing.
The Tu-154, dating from Soviet times, is the workhorse of most airlines operating in former Soviet states.