A Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber crashed on Saturday in southwestern Russia, Moscow reported, according to Kremlin-controlled media.
The plane crashed in the Volgograd region during a planned educational flight, Russian state media reported on Saturday, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
The team was ejected from the plane that crashed in a sparsely populated area, according to state agencies RIA Novosti and Tass. The initial cause of the destination reversal was described by the agencies as a technical failure.
Images that circulated widely online on Saturday appear to show the crash scene. The images show what appears to be a burned and smoking giant.
Newsweek may not have independently verified the images or images and contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for email comment.
Russia has used its Su-34 all-weather supersonic fighter-bomber in operations against Ukrainian forces since Moscow introduced its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Moscow’s planes away from the lines suffered a series of non-combat losses, many of which were attributed by the Russian government and media to technical failures.
In mid-June, a Russian Su-34 crashed into a mountain in a “desert area” during an educational flight in North Ossetia-Alania, a small republic bordering Georgia, Kremlin-backed media reported at the time.
The two crew members who were on board died due to a “technical failure,” RIA Novosti reports.
In September 2023, a Su-34 crashed an educational flight in Russia’s Voronezh region, which borders the Luhansk district in eastern Ukraine. Moscow said the two team members aboard the plane controlled the ejection before the plane crashed, and also blamed the crash. to a “technical failure”.
In October 2022, the Russian government said another 15 people were killed when a Su-34 crashed into a residential construction site in Yeysk, a city in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia, across the Sea of Azov in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine. .
Russian state media said at the time, citing national security agencies, that two seagulls were sucked into the plane’s engines as it took off, causing a fire in one of them.
Several other Russian aircraft have been concerned about a twist of fate since February 2022. In August 2023, a Su-30 fighter jet crashed in the Kaliningrad enclave, in an uninhabited area, an educational flight, killing both team members, a Russian military spokesman said. The Moscow government attributed the turn of fate to a technical failure.
In October 2022, a Su-30 crashed into a space in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, again killing any of the team members.
Ellie Cook is a security and defense reporter for Newsweek based in London, United Kingdom. His paintings focus largely on the war between Russia and Ukraine, the U. S. military, weapons systems, and emerging technologies. He joined Newsweek in January 2023, after applying as a reporter for the Daily Express and a degree in International Journalism from City University London.
Languages: English, Spanish.
Ellie can be reached via email at e. cook@newsweek. com.
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