Russian Su-30 crashes in Kaliningrad region, crew survives

Confirmation by the Russian MoD and number of people on board

The Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that on October 21 a Su-30 crashed during a routine training flight in the Kaliningrad region. There were two pilots on board. Both managed to eject and survived.

The crew was evacuated by a ground search-and-rescue team. The ministry assured that the pilots' lives were not in danger. The pilots were taken to a military hospital; according to the Ukrainian portal TSN, their condition is stable.

The Russian ministry did not give the cause of the crash. The incident occurred in the Kaliningrad region, an area bordering Poland.

According to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Russian aviation has lost more than a dozen aircraft of this type since the start of the war with Ukraine. Defence24 reports that this year the industry delivered only two new Su-30SM2 examples to the air force.

Crash site and course of events

The aircraft went down in the Chernyakhovsk area, in a field between the villages of Timofeyevka and Zielony Bór. The first reports of the crash were provided by Russian media, citing their own sources; later they were confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The Su-30SM struck the ground in an uninhabited area. There is no information about casualties on the ground or damage to infrastructure. The flight was conducted without weapons; the aircraft was not carrying ammunition.

Recordings from the moment of the crash were published on social media. They show a violent explosion immediately after the aircraft hit the ground. One of the recordings, published by the Ukrainian monitoring station Exilenova+, shows that the crash occurred near a cemetery.

The causes of the incident were not made public. According to Defence24, the aircraft belonged to the 4th Aviation Regiment of the Russian Navy.

Units and the toll of losses in Russian aviation

Su-30s are stationed in the region in two units: the 4th Guards Naval Aviation Regiment and the 689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The aircraft itself is a two-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter, armed with a 30 mm cannon and capable of carrying up to 8 tonnes of armament. About 150 aircraft of this type were produced for the Russian army. They also went for export, among others to India, China, Algeria and Armenia.

Sources

Article prepared with the help of artificial intelligence based on: Bankier.pl, Defence24, Gazeta.pl, Interia Fakty, Fakt. Facts checked automatically against these sources. The Wiadomości PRO newsroom is responsible for this publication.