Russian Su-34 Fighter Plane Just Crashed Into a Building Near Ukraine
Amid a series of drone strikes in central Kyiv on Monday morning, reports revealed that a Russian Su-34 warplane crashed into a residential building in Russia on Monday after suffering engine failure.
According to the Russian military, the Su-34 plane crashed in the port of Yeysk, which sits on the Sea of Azov.
Both crewmembers are believed to have successfully bailed out of the plane before it crashed, but the impact of the crash caused a huge fire when the plane’s fuel tanks exploded upon impact. The crash and the resulting fire caused damage to a residential building in the Russian city, and officials say that at least two people died as a result of the crash.
Video footage was also published online, which appeared to show the plane exploding before it crashed into the apartment buildings.
In a Telegram post, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that local fire and rescue units were working on extinguishing the fire, and noted that the fire had “spread to a few floors” in the building.
“According to preliminary information, 17 flats have been affected,” he continued.
Local residents also told media outlets that the Su-34 impact shocked the local community, which was already living in fear given that their town is close to Mariupol, a Ukrainian port city on the Sea of Azov that has seen heavy combat over the last eight months.
See the Impact Of the Su-34 Crash
Video footage shared on social media shows the scale of the damage caused by the Su-34 crash. One video, just seconds in length, shows the residential building engulfed in flames with large plumes of black smoke billowing out of the windows from the lower floors.
WATCH: #BNNRussia Reports.
Massive fire after military plane crashed into apartment building in Yeysk, western Russia. #PlaneCrash #Russia pic.twitter.com/5Tw8ShYHBt
— Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (@gchahal) October 17, 2022
The apartments on the far left and far right sides of the buildings appear to be undamaged, with the lights still on in many of the apartments. It is not known what structural damage has been caused to the building, however, and whether the rest of the building will remain safe for local people to live in after the fire is put out.
Another video, recorded from the side of the building, shows four floors of the apartment building on fire as local people run away from the scene and drivers pass by in their vehicles.
Four floors of high-rise building in #Russian city of #Yeysk on fire after plane crash – TASS cites authorities pic.twitter.com/FCXPhEWKQu
— Newsistaan (@newsistaan) October 17, 2022
Footage taken some hours later shows much of the building destroyed, with windows smashed and the interiors of the center of the building completely burned out and still on fire. Firefighters can be seen still attempting to put out the fire on the upper floors of the property.
Sukhoi Su-34
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
