Footage captured the Tu-22M3’s steep descent moments earlier than the crash within the Irkutsk area, with Russian officers reporting that the crew ejected safely.
A Russian Aerospace Forces (RuAF) Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bomber crashed on June 15, 2026. Movies circulating on social media present the plane coming into a steep nosedive earlier than disappearing behind a hill and crashing.
Thick black smoke quickly emerges following the explosion, with subsequent footage displaying the crash web site and the burning particles on an open discipline. Some accounts geolocated the spot within the Svirsk space of the Irkutsk area.
Notably, the Irkutsk area hosts Belaya Air Base, one of many principal working areas for Russia’s Tu-22M3 fleet and residential to the two hundredth Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment. The bottom was amongst these focused throughout Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb drone assaults in June 2025.
Further footage of the Russian Tu-22M3 heavy bomber nostril diving into the bottom in Irkutsk this night pic.twitter.com/Ie0wIxUtzN
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 15, 2026
Posts on Kremlin-aligned Russian Telegram channels quoted eyewitnesses and a press release from the Russian Ministry of Protection (RuMoD), which stated that the pilots ejected from the plane and survived. The incident occurred throughout a deliberate coaching flight, stated a submit on a Russian TG channel quoting the RuMoD.
The perspective of the plane whereas taking place may trace that the technical malfunction might have occurred at a considerable altitude. This may have afforded sufficient time for the crew to pilot the plane over an unpopulated space, earlier than commencing ejection procedures.
Footage from the crash web site of the Russian Tu-22M3 bomber. pic.twitter.com/agQxbqVPy2
— Particular Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 15, 2026
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Tu-22 and Russian bomber fleet
The Tu-22M3 (NATO reporting identify Backfire-C) is essentially the most superior variant of the Tu-22 that first flew in 1977, and entered service within the Nineteen Eighties. Recognized upgrades have been improved NK-25 engines and an enhanced “navigation/assault” system from Almaz PNA.
The Tu-22M3 is likely one of the three main strategic bombers of the RuAF, with the opposite two being the Tu-160 and the Tu-95. In accordance with the final rely by the World Air Forces 2026 report that counted figures as much as December 2025, Russia operated 57 airframes, with the newest crash now bringing that determine to 56.
A Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber based mostly within the Belaya air base in Irkutsk, went down and obtained completely destroyed.
In the mean time there is no such thing as a information what triggered the crash or what’s the standing of the crew. Previously the air base was struck by Ukrainian drones in the course of the Spiderweb… pic.twitter.com/uSMC8CPsTh
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) June 15, 2026
This mishap follows a number of latest Tu-22M3 incidents, together with crashes reported in 2024 and 2025, underscoring ongoing considerations concerning the growing older fleet’s operational readiness and upkeep burden. In reality, whereas modernization applications have sought to increase the plane’s service life, the fleet’s common age now exceeds three many years.
Because the begin of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Tu-22M3 bombers have been repeatedly employed to launch Kh-22 and Kh-32 long-range missiles towards targets throughout Ukraine. The plane’s capability to conduct standoff strikes from Russian airspace has made it one of many key elements of Russia’s long-range strike functionality.
The Tu-22M3 fleet has suffered each fight and non-combat losses in the course of the battle. In April 2024, Ukraine claimed accountability for the shootdown of a Tu-22M3 over Russia’s Stavropol area utilizing a modified S-200 air protection missile.
June 2025’s Operation Spiderweb additionally noticed at the least 4 Tu-22M3s being focused by Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) drones at Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk, with Ukrainian officers claiming the bombers have been utterly destroyed. Different plane focused by that operation included at the least one A-50 Airborne Early Warning and Management (AEW&C) plane, seven Tu-95s, and an An-12.
pic.twitter.com/XYS0W3Kv6o
— Visioner (@visionergeo) June 15, 2026
Tu-22M3s carrying Kh-32/Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles are continuously intercepted over the Baltic Sea by NATO and Swedish Air Forces. You may learn extra about these intercepts in our earlier experiences right here, right here and right here.
As per the Army Stability 2025 report by the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research (IISS), the Tu-22M3 is operated by 4 items of the RuAF: the fortieth Combined Aviation Regiment at Olenya Air Base; the two hundredth Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment throughout the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division at Belaya Air Base within the Irkutsk Oblast; the forty third Heart for Fight Software and Coaching of Aircrew for Lengthy Vary Aviation at Dyagilevo within the Ryazan Oblast; and the 52nd Heavy Bomber Regiment, throughout the twenty second Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division at Shaykovka in Kaluga Oblast.
