Russian military plane crashes into Siberia building, pilot killed

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A Russian military plane crashed into a two-story residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, killing two people, according to Russia’s Ministry of Emergencies. It was the second fatal incident in less than a week in which a military plane crashed into a Russian apartment building.

A Russian two-seater Sukhoi Su-30 crashed in the Novel Lenino district of Irkutsk at around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. A video shared by Russian state news media appeared to show the plane swooping toward the ground, creating a fireball and a thick cloud of black smoke. Two pilots of the plane were reportedly killed in the crash. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said no residents were harmed.

A Russian warplane crashed into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on October 23, killing two of its crew members, authorities said. (Video: Igor Kobzev via Storyful)

This is the second such incident in a week. A Sukhoi Su-34 crashed into a nine-story apartment building in the southern Russian town of Yeysk on Monday. At least 15 people were killed in the crash, Reuters reported. At the time, authorities said the cause could be a “technical glitch”. The pilot in the crash managed to eject and survived.

In both incidents, the planes were on training flights, authorities said. Highlights the losses of the Russian Air Force in the war against Ukraine.

Russian fighter jet crashes into apartment in town near Ukraine

Russian authorities have provided no information on the cause of the crash. The country’s commission of inquiry said it had launched a criminal investigation into possible violations of transport safety rules and had dispatched forensic investigators to the scene.

Russia’s state-owned aerospace group United Aircraft said in a statement on Sunday that the investigation into the crash will involve aviation industry experts. In Irkutsk on Sunday night, authorities declared a municipal state of emergency in the area where the incident occurred, Russian media reported.

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The back-to-back crashes are problematic for the perception of Russian troops and the domestic public battling a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region. Moscow is facing criticism from military analysts who say it won’t win fast enough in Ukraine, while Russians are fleeing en masse to avoid a military mobilization ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

Elsewhere in the region last month, a man shot and wounded an officer at a military recruitment station in a town north of Irkutsk. The gunman was visibly distraught that his close friend had been called to fight in Ukraine despite having no military service.

Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.

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