Fighter jet crash in Russia's Karelia kills two pilots

14 Nov 2025 02:06
14 Nov 2025 02:14

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Fighter jet crash in Russia's Karelia kills two pilots

Reuters

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet crashed on Thursday evening during a routine training flight in the Karelia region, which borders Finland, resulting in the deaths of both pilots on board, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed.

The crash is the latest in a growing number of non-combat aviation accidents involving Russian military aircraft in recent months, News.Az reports citing foreign media, News.Az reports citing foreign media.

According to a statement released by the Defence Ministry, the incident occurred at around 7 pm (Moscow time). The ministry said the aircraft went down in an uninhabited area and was not carrying any ammunition at the time.

"Today, at around 7.00 pm Moscow time, a Su-30 fighter jet crashed in Karelia while performing a scheduled training flight. The aircraft crashed in an uninhabited area. The flight was performed without ammunition. The crew of the aircraft was killed," the ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency TASS.

Emergency response teams were immediately dispatched to the crash site in the Prionezhsky district, according to Karelia’s regional governor Artur Parfenchikov.

"I have received information about the crash of a military jet in the Prionezhsky district. I have dispatched Karelia’s emergency services to the suspected crash site," Parfenchikov said on his Telegram channel.

Later, the governor confirmed that the crash did not cause any civilian casualties or property damage. "The aircraft fell in a dense forest, and there were no casualties or damage on the ground," he said.

Officials have not yet disclosed the cause of the crash. However, Russian aviation authorities have launched an investigation to determine whether technical failure or pilot error was responsible. The Defence Ministry said a special commission had been formed to examine the incident and collect data from the wreckage.

The Su-30, a twin-engine, two-seat fighter jet, is part of Russia’s advanced multirole aircraft fleet used for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. It is also among the aircraft heavily deployed in Russia’s ongoing military operations in Ukraine.

This latest crash adds to a string of aviation accidents involving Russian combat aircraft this year. In July, a Su-34 fighter-bomber went down in the Nizhny Novgorod region under similar training circumstances.

According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russia has lost 428 aircraft since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022. While the figure has not been independently verified, several independent military analysts estimate that up to 15 of those losses could involve Su-30SM aircraft.

News.Az