A Russian military plane crashed on Monday into a residential area of Yeysk, a town in southwestern Russia near the border with Ukraine, news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry, with at least two deaths reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed of the fire and ordered “all necessary assistance be given to casualties from the military plane incident,” the Kremlin told the state-run news agency TASS.
Images circulating social media showed a nine-storey residential building on fire.
At least two people had been killed in the incident, news agencies reported citing emergency services.
“On October 17, 2022, while taking off to carry out a training flight from the military airfield of the Southern Military District, an Su-34 aircraft crashed,” the ministry said.
Its statement said the military jet had malfunctioned after “one of its engines caught fire during take-off”.
“At the site of the Sukhoi Su-34 crash, in the courtyard of a residential area, the aircraft’s fuel caught fire,” the ministry said.
Images on social media showed a Soviet-era residence block engulfed by flames.
The blaze reached five out of nine floors of a residential building, according to emergency services, quoted by Russian state-run agencies.
The blaze spread over 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet), the services added.
