Last week, a Russian fighter jet crashed during a training exercise over the Murmansk region of Russia, TASS reported.
Video taken by civilians on the ground shows the MiG-31 supersonic jet bursting into flames before plunging to the ground and out of sight behind a tree line.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the jet was involved in a planned exercise outside of the city of Monchegorsk near the border with Finland when one of the engines caught fire. A source in local law enforcement told TASS that the jet crashed into a lake and the two pilots on board “probably ejected.”
Eyewitnesses reported seeing two paratroopers near the site of the crash, TASS reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry later confirmed in a statement that both pilots were unharmed and had been evacuated from the crash site by a search and rescue chopper.
No civilians were reported injured in the incident.
The crash comes as Russian forces are struggling to gain ground in Ukraine as the 14-month war grows into a stalemate with the bloodiest fighting continuing in the eastern part of the country.
On Saturday, the Russian-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea revealed that a massive fire erupted after an oil depot at the city’s harbor was hit by Ukrainian drones, the Associated Press reported.
Governor Mikhail Rozvozhayev said in a Telegram post on Saturday that the fire was assigned the highest priority given how complicated it would be to put out.
Two drones hit the depot, causing four oil tanks to burn down. A third drone was shot down by Russian forces while a fourth was disabled using radio-electronic means, according to Crimea’s Russian-appointed governor Sergei Akssyonov.
Ukraine’s drone attack on Sevastopol came just one day after Russia fired over 20 cruise missiles and launched two drone attacks on Ukraine, killing at least 23 people.
