Russian fighter plane crashes into apartments near Ukraine
Horror footage shows a Russian fighter plane erupt in a deadly fireball as it crashes into a residential building. Watch the video.
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Shock video showed a Russian fighter plane erupting into a fireball as it crashed into a residential building near the border of Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring more than two dozen others.
The crash took place in the Russian city of Yeysk during a training flight from a military airfield, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation said.
Footage shared on social media appeared to show explosions inside the plane as it nose-dived toward the nine-storey apartment building.
The fire spread from the first to the ninth floor, causing the upper floors of the building to collapse, Russia’s Tass news agency reported.
The fallen aircraft was identified as a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet. The plane’s crew managed to eject before the crash.
Passer-bys took to Twitter after that crash, saying the pilot walked away unharmed and told witnesses the plane didn’t get shot, it fell down by itself.
“According to the report of the ejected pilots, the cause of the plane crash was the ignition of one of the engines during takeoff. At the site of the crash of the Su-34 in the courtyard of one of the residential quarters, the plane’s fuel ignited,” the ministry said.
‘KAMIKAZE DRONES’ HIT KYIV
Russia has hit Ukraine with a fresh wave of deadly attacks, that has included the use of Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones on the capital, Kyiv, and other regions.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said three regions - Kyiv, Dnipro and Sumy - had been targeted in the strikes which hit critical infrastructure, cutting off electricity in hundreds of villages across the country.
At least seven people have died so far - four in Sumy and three in Kyiv. A pregnant woman was among the victims, according to local authorities.
“We’ve got already four people dead under the ruins of the building in the Shevchenkivsky district which was hit by the Russian terrorist drone,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
“The rescuers found another body of a man there. The rescue operation is ongoing. There could be some other people under the rubble.”
Russia said it had hit “all designated targets”, confirming that Ukraine’s “military command facilities and energy system” had been targets.
Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak confirmed that Kyiv was attacked by “kamikaze drones”after several explosions were heard in the central Shevchenkivsky district of the capital.
“The Russians think it will help them, but it shows their desperation,” he said on social media.
The explosions were heard Monday morning in Kyiv, exactly a week after Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital.
Three blasts occurred between 6:35 am and 6:58 am (2.35pm and 2.58pm AEDT). Air raid sirens sounded shortly before the first explosion.
Mr Klitschko said one of the blasts was in the capital’s central Shevchenkivsky district.
“All services are on their way to the spot. Details later. The air alert continues. Stay in shelters!” Klitschko said on social media.
On October 10, Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine in the biggest wave of strikes in months.
The attacks killed at least 19 people, wounded 105 others and sparked an international outcry.
Moscow carried out further strikes on October 11, though on a smaller scale, striking energy installations in western Ukraine far from the front.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were in retaliation for an explosion that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.
Putin on Friday had expressed satisfaction and said there was no need for further massive strikes on Ukraine “for now”.
MORE EU SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE
The EU is set to step up its military support for Ukraine on Monday by launching a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and providing 500 million euros more for weapons.
Foreign ministers from the bloc’s 27 members states are expected to sign off on the decisions at a meeting in Luxembourg and diplomats say the mission should become operational next month.
“It’s a big first for the EU,” said one European diplomat.
“We’ve never done a training mission of that scope.” After almost eight months of war, Ukraine’s forces are making progress on the battlefield and Kyiv’s western backers are keen to make sure its troops have the capacity to keep fighting.
Several EU nations – including Germany and France – are already training Ukrainians to use the modern artillery systems, missile launchers and air defences they are delivering to Kyiv.
But the EU has lagged behind in providing large-scale training to help the country’s military face off against Russia’s invading forces.
The United States, Canada and Britain have already been training thousands of troops.
London is aiming to train 10,000 within this year and looking to more than double that next year.
The final details of the European training are still being hammered out. But an official said the plan is initially to provide basic training to 12,000 soldiers and specialised instruction to 2,800 more.
Ukraine’s neighbour Poland is due to serve as the main hub for the mission. “It is the way out for the Ukrainians and way back in,” said one European diplomat.
Germany is also set to be a key staging post for training.
Programmes currently run by individual member states are set to continue and could be incorporated in the EU mission later.
“Everyone in the EU will do what they can do in correspondence to the needs of Ukrainians,” the diplomat said.
The diplomat said a budget of some 60 million euros per year was foreseen. The exact amount should be agreed on Monday, along with a new tranche of 500 million euros ($486 million) in EU central funding to help cover the costs of arms sent to Ukraine.
MH17 ‘CRIMINAL’ HEADS RUSSIA’S WAR
A wanted “war criminal” accused of complicity in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has been “made a commander in Vladimir Putin’s frontline forces fighting in Ukraine”.
It comes as Tesla billionaire Elon Musk announced that his company SpaceX will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine after suggesting he would pull coverage.
Igor Girkin – also known as Igor Strelkov – former defence minister of self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic, has been a critic of the Kremlin over the Ukraine campaign.
The doomed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile over Ukraine’s Donbas region in July 2014, claiming 298 lives including 38 Australians.
The Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky.
In June 2019 four suspects were charged with mass murder over MH17 – including Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
As top commander of DNR’s militia forces back in 2014, Girkin is believed to have been the most senior army officer who was communicating with Russia during the war between pro-Russian separatists and Kyiv, at the time the plane’s downing.
“In as much as I was the commander of the rebels and a participant in the conflict, I feel a moral responsibility for these deaths,” Mr Girkin told The Times at the time, but was adamant the separatists under his command “did not bring down the plane”.
The 51-year-old Girkin has recently been critical of Putin’s handling of the war.
But now in a change of tack the ex-FSB colonel and hardliner has been appointed a frontline commander, reports The Sun.
He was pictured bidding farewell to his wife wearing military fatigues.
Mr Girkin had gone quiet on his Telegram channel which has been used for months to demand a far tougher and more brutal approach to the war from Russian forces.
His wife Miroslava Reginskaya, 29, posted: “He is OK. He will be in touch soon.”
Military reporter Yuri Kotenok said: “Strelkov’s silence since October 10 is explained by the fact that after eight years he was allowed to leave for the war zone.
“He went to fight in one of the volunteer battalions as chief of staff or deputy commander.”
Mr Girkin had warned last month that more military defeats could topple Vladimir Putin, and accused the Kremlin leader and his defence minister of incompetence.
“All it will take is an outbreak of inflation or a few more military defeats to finish him off,” he posted about the Russian president.
The war lord called the Russian president “clueless” over Russia’s frontline failings and suggested that “execution by shooting” was too good a punishment for defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
Mr Girkin had long called for full mobilisation while slating the military hierarchy in Russia.
He was known for his cruelty in Donetsk, bragging about ordering prisoners and looters to be shot.
His new role as a commander – possibly in a private army backing Mr Putin – appears a sign that hardliners are now fully in charge of Mr Putin’s war.
Mr Dubinsky is also an ex Russian intelligence officer while Mr Pulatov – nicknamed the Viper – is a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian army.
Mr Kharchenko was the commander of a Ukrainian separatist battalion.
“Though they did not push the button, we suspect them of close co- operation to get the (missile launcher) where it was, with the aim to shoot down an aeroplane,” Chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said at the time.
The judgment in absentia from the District Court of The Hague is expected on November 17.
MUSK TO CONTINUE FUNDING STARLINK IN UKRAINE
Elon Musk says that his company SpaceX will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine, one day after the tech mogul suggested he could not keep funding the project.
Starlink, a constellation of more than 3000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital to Ukraine’s communications as it battles Russia.
But Musk has found himself embroiled of late in public spats with Ukrainian leaders who were angered by his controversial proposals for de-escalating the conflict, which included acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
“The hell with it,” Musk, the world’s richest man, wrote on Twitter.
“Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
In a series of tweets on Friday, Musk had detailed the logistics of the operation and said it was costing SpaceX nearly $20 million per month, and suggested the company could not fund it indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire’s company about funding for the key network.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households,” he said Friday.
“This is unreasonable.”
Musk has recently been in a spat with Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after suggesting a peace deal that involved re-running controversial referendums in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine – an idea welcomed by Moscow.
A senior Ukrainian presidential aide, Mykhaylo Podolyak, acknowledged the importance of Starlink in a tweet on Friday.
“Like it or not, @elonmusk helped us survive the most critical moments of war,” Podolyak wrote, adding that Ukraine “will find a solution to keep #Starlink working.”
- with AFP
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