Two pilots die as Russian Su-30 fighter jet crashes during training near Finnish border

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet crashed on Thursday evening during a routine training mission in the Karelia region, near the Finnish border, resulting in the deaths of both pilots, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed. This incident is the latest in a series of non-combat aviation accidents involving Russian military aircraft in recent months.

The Defence Ministry stated that the crash occurred at approximately 7 pm Moscow time in an uninhabited area and that the jet was not carrying any ammunition during the flight. “The Su-30 fighter jet crashed in Karelia during a scheduled training flight. The crew tragically lost their lives, and the aircraft went down in an area with no population,” the statement, carried by the state news agency TASS, said.

Emergency teams were immediately sent to the crash site in Prionezhsky district, according to Karelia’s regional governor, Artur Parfenchikov. He later reassured that the crash did not cause any civilian injuries or property damage, noting that the plane had fallen in a densely forested area.

The cause of the crash has not yet been disclosed. Russian aviation authorities have launched an investigation to determine whether technical malfunction or pilot error led to the incident. A special commission has been formed to examine the wreckage and collect relevant data.

The Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat multirole fighter capable of both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It is a key component of Russia’s advanced aircraft fleet and has been heavily deployed in the country’s ongoing military operations in Ukraine.

This crash follows other aviation accidents involving Russian combat jets this year. In July, a Su-34 fighter-bomber similarly went down during a training exercise in the Nizhny Novgorod region. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russia has reportedly lost 428 aircraft since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with independent analysts estimating that up to 15 of these losses involved Su-30SM jets.