Trump confirms that “very talented Russians” died in Washington
30 January 20:56
US President Donald Trump said that several Russians were among those killed in the plane crash near Washington. He said this during a briefing at the White House, according to Komersant ukrainskyi citing Bloomberg.
Interestingly, when talking about the dead Russians, Trump used the word “contingent,” which may indicate that there were many Russians on board. In addition, this word carries a strong military connotation.
“…the Russian contingent of very talented people, unfortunately, was on that plane – very, very, very sorry to those whose loved ones were on board the passenger plane,”
– the US leader said.
Trump later added that the United States would transport the remains of the Russians who died in the crash back to Russia.
As reported by , on the night of January 30, 2025, American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, DC. Among the victims of the crash are known to be figure skaters, their coaches, and families.
According to Russian media, two famous Russian figure skaters were among the dead: Yevgenia Shishkova (52) and Vadim Naumov (55), who won the 1994 World Cup in pairs figure skating and were considered one of the best coaches of the Russian national team.

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Details of the crash
The crash occurred when the plane was performing a landing maneuver. A US Army helicopter was flying near the airport at the time. Eyewitnesses report that after the collision, both aircraft caught fire and fell into the water.
The plane had 60 passengers and 4 crew members on board. The helicopter was carrying 3 soldiers. According to current reports, there are no survivors.
Rescuers, divers and emergency services are currently working at the crash site. Some of the wreckage has already been recovered from the river. Authorities have declared the crash zone a closed area.
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation. Experts are analyzing the records of dispatcher conversations and radar data. It is known that the weather conditions were favorable, and the pilots did not send any emergency signals before the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the plane was in good condition and the crew had enough experience.
Due to the crash, some flights at Reagan National Airport were canceled or diverted to other air havens. Relatives and friends of the passengers are gathering at the airport, waiting for confirmation of the victims’ identities.
Investigators are planning to recover the black boxes of the airplane and helicopter from the river bottom to reconstruct the last moments of the flight and find out the causes of the collision.