A Russian military plane crashed on Thursday off the coast of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, and the pilot had time to eject, said the local governor appointed by Moscow.
“A military plane fell into the sea (…) The pilot was ejected. He was recovered by Sevastopol rescuers at a distance of 200 meters from the shore. His life is not in danger,” Mikhail Razvojaïev said on Telegram.
The reasons for the accident have not been communicated. According to images published on social networks and authenticated by the AP press agency, we can see the burning plane crashing into Crimean waters. The Belarusian opposition media joked when broadcasting the video: “Oh, how beautiful it burns and falls.”
Several accidents in recent months
It is not the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine that a Russian plane has crashed near the border.
At the end of January 2024, a Russian military plane crashed in the Belgorod region with 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board. Moscow and kyiv blame each other for the accident.
In October 2022, an accident also occurred in the Krasnodar region, near the occupied territories of Ukraine and Crimea. A Russian military plane crashed into a building in Yeisk, killing thirteen people, including three children.
Annexed by Moscow ten years ago, Crimea “has always been a strategic territory, but Russia has accelerated its militarization,” underlined in mid-March General Jérôme Pellistrandi, defense consultant for BFMTV, who compared the peninsula to “an aircraft carrier landing in the heart of the Black Sea.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the territory has been kyiv’s favorite target. In 2023, the Ukrainian army carried out no less than 184 attacks on the peninsula, the most notorious of which were the attack on the kerch bridge July 17 and bombing of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol
Source: BFM TV
