A Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet has crashed in Russia's Voronezh region, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry said two crew members who were on board the $50 million fighter jet were able to safely eject from the aircraft before it crashed at around 10 a.m. local time.
Officials said the supersonic jet crashed "while performing a scheduled training flight" without ammunition, and that the cause of the crash could have been a technical malfunction.
There is "no threat" to the health of the crew, the statement said. The jet reportedly fell far from populated areas.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry via email for additional comment.
Russian Telegram channel 112 reported, citing an unnamed source, that the jet's landing gear failed, and that it caught fire after crashing.
The Baza Telegram channel, which is linked to Russia's security services, similarly reported that the aircraft had issues with its landing gear, and said it crashed in a field in the Kashirsky district of the Voronezh region, near the village of Kolodezny on Wednesday morning.
The incident comes days after a Russian Su-24 jet crashed in the Kalachevsky district of the Volgograd region, reportedly during a scheduled training flight. The cause of that crash has yet to be determined. The pilot and crew members are believed to have died in the crash.
In October 2022, another Su-34 fighter jet crashed into a residential building in a small port town in the Krasnodar Krai region of western Russia during a training flight, killing 15 people, authorities said.
"While climbing to perform a training flight from the military airfield of the southern military district, an Su-34 aircraft crashed," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement at the time. "According to the report of ejected pilots, the cause of the plane crash was the ignition of one of the engines during takeoff."
In March, another Su-34 crashed in Yenakievo, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk oblast, with reports indicating Ukraine wasn't involved, according to Baza.
According to data compiled by Newsweek last month, more than a fifth of Russia's known manned aircraft and helicopter losses since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have not been due to enemy action.
Between February 24, 2022 and August 17, 2023, 21.7 percent—or one in five—of Russia's verified manned aircraft losses, which includes jets, helicopters and transport aircraft, were blamed on Russian system malfunctions, pilot errors, friendly fire or other accidents not related to direct combat against Ukraine.
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Update 9/20/2023, 5:56 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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