A Russian strategic bomber Tu-22M3 crashed on Monday during a training flight in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, as confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense through the agency Interfax.
The four crew members were able to eject in time and were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The accident occurred near the village of Kamenka, according to a report from Reuters. Unverified videos shared on social media showed the plane descending towards a wooded area near the Angara River, creating a large column of smoke. Fire crews worked to extinguish the fire at the crash site.
The Russian Defense Ministry clarified that "the crew ejected; there is no threat to the life or health of the pilots" and that "the aircraft was flying without combat load."
The governor of Irkutsk, Igor Kobzev, indicated that preliminary evidence suggests a likely engine failure as the probable cause of the accident.
The Tu-22M3, known to NATO as "Backfire," is a Soviet-era supersonic bomber capable of carrying Kh-22 cruise missiles and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. Russia has employed it in combat missions in Syria since 2015 and in Ukraine since 2022.
The accident on Monday is the second in just over a year in the same Siberian region. In April 2025, another Tu-22M3 also crashed in Irkutsk during a training flight: all four crew members ejected, but one later died in the hospital. In April 2024, another unit crashed in the Stavropol Krai while returning from a combat mission, resulting in two crew members' deaths.
The coincidence is striking: on the same day as the Russian accident, a B-52H Stratofortress bomber from the United States Air Force crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in California shortly after takeoff during a routine test mission. The outcomes, however, were radically different.
The eight individuals on board the B-52H —three more than the standard crew— died in the Edwards accident, including two employees of Boeing. Authorities classified the incident as "non-survivable."
Both accidents occurred just hours apart, involving two of the most iconic strategic bombers from their respective air forces, with opposite outcomes: four survivors in the Russian case, eight fatalities in the American one.
The B-52 accident at Edwards Air Force Base is the deadliest involving that model since 2008, when six members of the U.S. Air Force died off the coast of Guam.
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