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A Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber crashed Monday in the Irkutsk region of Siberia during a planned training flight, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed, adding that the aircraft's four-person crew had ejected safely and faced no threat to their lives or health.
The Defense Ministry said the crash occurred as the aircraft was on approach to landing during a routine training sortie.
The plane carried no combat load.
"The crew ejected. There is no threat to the pilots' lives or health. There is no damage on the ground," Interfax cited the ministry as saying.
An investigation commission from the main command of the Russian Aerospace Forces was deployed to the site.
Irkutsk region Governor Igor Kobzev confirmed in a statement that the aircraft had crashed near the village of Kamenka and that all four crew members had been taken to the hospital.
Firefighters were working to extinguish a blaze at the crash site on the banks of the Angara River near the town of Svirsk.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing crew members descend by parachute before the aircraft struck the ground, producing a large column of smoke.
Unverified social media footage showed the aircraft nose-diving into a heavily wooded area near the river.
The Tu-22M3 is a Soviet-era supersonic variable-wing bomber designated "Backfire" by NATO.
A modernized variant of the original Tu-22 design, the aircraft is capable of carrying Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles and the air-launched hypersonic Kinzhal "Dagger" missiles, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Russia has deployed the Tu-22M3 in combat operations in Syria and in Ukraine, where it has been used to launch long-range strikes.
The loss of the airframe, confirmed to have occurred without weapons aboard, does not represent a direct operational impact on Russia's current strike capabilities, but the Tu-22M3 fleet has faced attrition during the Ukraine war.
Ukraine has previously struck Tu-22M3s on the ground at Russian air bases using long-range drones.
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