Military Jet Slams Into Residential Building In Russia, Igniting Huge Blaze

Disaster has struck the southern Russian city of Yeysk, located on the Sea of Azov, after a Russian military jet crashed into a large residential apartment building on Monday evening (local time) when the plane suffered engine failure. The incident happened far away from fighting in Ukraine and appears unrelated as part of a routine training flight, Russian sources say.

The building has been on fire in what appears a deadly incident, though details of casualties weren’t immediately known upon initial reports, but the crew managed to eject just before the plane impacted the building – as seen in a surreal photograph widely circulating on social media and in breaking new reports…

A Russian defense ministry statement confirmed the accident, which involved a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet.

“While climbing to perform a training flight from the military airfield of the southern military district, a Su-34 aircraft crashed,” a defense ministry statement said. “The cause of the crash of the aircraft was a fire in one of the engines during takeoff.”

The moment of the crash of the Su-34 in Yeysk. The footage shows how the engine of the plane flashes, it begins to lose altitude, falls and explodes. pic.twitter.com/BdVYay0xHY

— Russiаn Market (@runews) October 17, 2022

The subsequent huge fireball and blaze was stoked by jet fuel, with fire engulfing the first through ninth floors, according to eyewitness accounts.

Thick smoke can be seen rising over the city, with local firefighters struggling to fight back the blaze, as seen in live video feeds of the disaster aftermath…

#Russia 🇷🇺: a Russian warplane has crashed into an apartment block in the town of Yeysk, located on the Sea of Azov, opposite to occupied #Mariupol in #Ukraine 🇺🇦.

The pilot reportedly ejected from the plane before impact. pic.twitter.com/lMwp9Ot4Nk

— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) October 17, 2022

At least 15 apartments have been destroyed or damaged, TASS reports, and has further noted the number of casualties remains unknown.

Russian Ministry of Defense confirms loss of Su-34 in Yeysk. 2 pilots survived, one of them reported that “engine caught fire”. “At the site of Su-34 crash fuel caught fire in residential yard” https://t.co/suU4xcW3Yh pic.twitter.com/Of8K3ik84y

— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) October 17, 2022

“The governor of the Krasnodar region, where Yeysk is located, said that local and regional emergency services have been deployed to the scene,” according to RT.