An Antonov An-72 plane crashes close to the city of Shymkent, killing 27 people.

The Antonov An-72 is a Soviet transport aircraft, developed by Antonov. It was designed as a STOL transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.

On 25 December 2012, an Antonov An-72 military transport aircraft operated by the Kazakh Armed Forces crashed about 20 km (12 mi) from the city of Shymkent, Kazakhstan, where the aircraft was preparing to land. All 27 people on board died in the crash.

Shymkent is a city in southern Kazakhstan, located near the border with Uzbekistan. It holds the status of a city of republican significance, one of only three cities in Kazakhstan with this distinction, alongside Almaty and Astana. As of June 2018, Shymkent had an estimated population of 1,002,291, making it the third-most populous city in the country, after Almaty and Astana.