A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski has crashed near a Russian airport, officials say.

Russian media reported that 87 people were killed in the crash near Smolensk, and a regional governor was quoted as saying there were no survivors.

Send us your reaction

It's hard to even comment this. You wake up in the morning and find out that your country's most important figures are dead.
Adriene, Poland

In Poland everybody is talking about it. All TV channels are showing pictures from Smolensk. At first I thought it was a small accident. Nobody believes that this is true, that the president is dead. TV presenters are asking other politicians what will be happen tomorrow, they are talking about a new election for a president. This is unbelievable that the president and his wife and other politicians died today in a plane crash.
Katarzyna Gieras, Cracow, Poland

I'm from Poland and I must say this is quite a shock to all us. Many important people died in that accident. I hope there will be no real implications of this tragedy. When I was in primary school I sat in the presidential plane on a school trip, it's hard to believe it's gone now.
Leszek, Warsaw, Poland

I don't know what to say. Totally shocked.
Agnieszka, Torun, Poland

It is an unbelievable tragedy. So many great minds, important figures, including the president, killed at the same time. And all this today, on the day commemorating the Katy? massacre. Nobody would expect such horrible news on waking up on Saturday morning...
Katarzyna Fronczak, Warsaw, Poland

We are all devastated with this news!! We don't understand how this could happen. All we can do now is to pray for all people who died in that crash:(
Patrycja, Brzesko, Poland

You may imagine our shock when we got to know that a group of most important figures in our country died in a plane crash. Look at the context - they were on their way to Katyn where thousand of Polish military officers, doctors, professors, the most important and educated Polish citizens at that time, were killed by the Soviets. An irreparable loss. I still can't believe it.
Aleksandra Jackowska, Warsaw, Poland

Astounded as we were when we switched on our TVs today, we still cannot come to terms with it. As I am talking to my friends, none of us is able to imagine what the situation will be like now. It's unbelievable.
Marta K, Poland, Wroclaw

I'm 25 and I'm from Poland. I can't say I've liked our President and supported his actions. I didn't even vote for him five years ago. But what happened this morning is terrible, I admit that and I would wish nobody an end like this! Would you?
Anna Bi?kowska, Warsaw, Poland

This is terrible news, we have found out this morning, almost everybody is watching or listening to the radio, all TV and radio stations changed their programme schedules, all sports shows have been cancelled. I guess we still can't believe this and we are in great shock. Our thoughts are that this is a great tragedy but not because it was president and people high up, but because they was 132 of our fellow country men.
Szymon & Dominika, Szczecin, Poland

Poland: I was sitting in a cafe when I heard this news, it immediately spread among Poles via sms. Everybody is shocked, even though Kaczynski is very unpopular. Some unrefined comments may be heard on the streets.
Kamila, Warsaw, Poland

I didn't vote for him in last elections and to be honest, I didn't like him. But he was the president of my country and I got really upset when I learned about the crash. As our constitution says, Mr Komorowski, Marshal of the Sejm, will be temporary president - I wanted him to be the president but not in such circumstances.
Kamila, Poland, Cracow

The catastrophe itself is a very sad event as are all events of its kind, poor people, none survived. Though many poles were very unhappy with our president, now they'll have an opportunity to elect someone they'll be proud of (on an international political scene). What makes this news more sad is that they were flying to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre which was such a blow to our nation. Anyway, let's try to be positive. It's weekend after all. Take care.
Maciej R., London

It's a bitter irony that Kaczynski and others died on their way to commemorate the massacres of Poles many of whom who were themselves at the top of their society. This is a kind of event that will seed conspiracy theories for years to follow, regardless of what the cause will turn out to be.
Boris Issaev, Toronto, Canada

I was shocked, when I discovered what happened in Smolensk this morning. It is the biggest tragedy in the history of Poland, because so many very important people died at the same time! Also I cannot understand how the Polish President could travel on such an old plane?! The former PM of Poland Mr Miller nearly died also, when he was flying an old helicopter a few years ago.
Marcin, London

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