On board were eight crew members and seven passengers. (Representational)

Moscow:

Russia said on Tuesday that a military cargo plane with 15 people on board had crashed while taking off from an airfield for a scheduled flight. 

Moscow said the Ilyushin-76 plane crashed in the Ivanovo region, 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow after one of its engines caught fire.  

“An Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the Ivanovo region while taking off to perform a scheduled flight. On board were eight crew members and seven passengers,” the defence ministry said in a statement carried by Russia news agencies. 

It said the crash was caused by “a fire in one of its engines” and it had sent a military commission to the air base in Ivanovo.  

Russia has seen a huge increase in the air and land transport of troops and military equipment across its territory during its two-year offensive in Ukraine. 

In January, Russia said Ukraine had downed an Il-76 near the countries’ shared border. 

The Ilyushin plane is a large cargo plane. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)