In brief
Russia's defence ministry said the crew of the Su-30 ejected and that the pilots' lives were not at risk. The jet came down in an uninhabited area with no ammunition aboard.
Mash, a Telegram channel that Meduza says has close ties to security services, reported the pilots were taken to a military hospital. Polsat News, citing Russian Telegram channels, said both pilots were injured, while TVP Info reported no casualties on the ground.
Exilenova+, a Ukrainian monitoring channel, published video cited by Meduza that shows fire and a large plume of smoke in woodland near a cemetery.
What happened
Russia's defence ministry said a Su-30 fighter crashed in the Kaliningrad region on Wednesday, 21 October, while flying a training mission. According to the ministry, the crew ejected and the jet came down in an uninhabited area. The aircraft carried no ammunition, and the ministry said the pilots' lives were not in danger. No cause had been given in the first reports, and the ministry did not explain what led to the accident. Russian military aircraft do crash during exercises from time to time, and crews have sometimes died in such incidents.
Injury reports and the crash site
Russian Telegram channels gave a different account of the pilots' condition. Mash, which Meduza describes as a channel with close ties to the security services, said the crew had been taken to a military hospital with injuries. Polsat News, citing Russian Telegram channels, reported that both pilots were hurt and admitted to hospital. TVP Info, by contrast, reported that the two-person crew was evacuated by rescue services and that no one on the ground was hurt. Mash reported that the aircraft came down in fields between the villages of Timofeyevka and Zeljonyj Bor, near the town of Chernyakhovsk. The articles do not cite an official source confirming the injuries.
Video and the aircraft
The Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ published a video, which Meduza cited, showing fire and a large plume of smoke in woodland near a cemetery. Polsat News reported that a recording purporting to show the moment of the crash had also appeared online. The Su-30 is a two-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter whose development began in the Soviet Union, and TVP Info said it carries a 30 mm cannon and can take up to 8 tonnes of weapons. TVP put the Russian production run at about 150 aircraft, and exports went to India, China, Algeria and Armenia. Polsat News identified the jet as a Su-30SM, while other reports only said Su-30. Two units in Kaliningrad fly the type: the 4th Guards Naval Aviation Regiment and the 689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.
Wider context
Russia has used Su-30 fighters in its war against Ukraine, a conflict that Focus described as more than four and a half years old. The Baltic states and Poland have repeatedly complained of Russian fighter jets violating their airspace, and Moscow has pointed to planned training flights. Kaliningrad is a Baltic Sea exclave lying between Poland and Lithuania.