Videos showing moment of Russian fighter jet crash emerge

Footage has emerged showing the exact moment a Russian Su-34 multirole fighter jet crashed in the city of Yeysk on Monday evening, causing a fire at an apartment building, where at least three people have died as a result.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that the jet crashed soon after taking off from a local airfield for a training flight, meaning that the plane was not equipped with ammunition. The crash was caused by the “combustion of one of the engines at take-off,” the pilots, who managed to eject before impact, said, according to the ministry.

Video footage obtained by RT showed the plane streaking across the sky at low altitude and experiencing at least one explosion before crashing.

CCTV footage shared by the Smotri Media Telegram channel showed the incident from further away. Here the jet appeared to be traveling at low speed and losing altitude before the impact.

The crash caused a major blaze that damaged at least 17 apartments, according to the governor of Krasnodar Region, where Yeysk is located.

The military added that the Su-35 was scheduled to perform a training flight, meaning that the jet was not equipped with ammunition.

A video shot after the crash showed the multi-storey apartment building consumed in flames, as black smoke billowed into the evening sky. 

At least three people were killed and 19 more injured in the incident, local officials reported, with at least 17 apartments damaged.

Yeysk is a port city in southern Russia and is located across the Azov Sea from the city of Mariupol.