A Russian fifth-generation fighter came down west of Moscow on 23 July. The pilot ejected and survived; the aircraft did not.
Russian media identified the jet as a Sukhoi Su-57, the country’s newest stealth fighter. The Defence Ministry confirmed that it had lost an aircraft on a training flight but stopped short of naming the type.
Quick Facts
- Aircraft: Sukhoi Su-57 Felon (per Russian media; not confirmed by the MoD)
- Date: 23 July 2026
- Location: Odintsovo district near Zvenigorod, ~65 km west of Moscow
- Crew: Pilot ejected, survived; no reported injuries on the ground
- Ordnance: None aboard, per the Defence Ministry
- Stated cause: Preliminary “technical malfunction” (under investigation)
What Russia said
The Ministry of Defence described the loss in brief, matter-of-fact terms and gave a preliminary cause.
The ministry added that the aircraft was carrying no weapons and that the preliminary cause was a “technical malfunction.” It did not identify the airframe. Russian outlets and defence commentators reported it as a Su-57, which went down in the Odintsovo district near Zvenigorod, close to the Kubinka air base to the west of the capital.
Why a single loss stands out
The Su-57 is built in small numbers. Open-source estimates put the operational fleet at only a few dozen airframes, so a single write-off is proportionally significant for a programme that has been slow to reach volume production.
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a case into the crash, a standard step after military flight accidents. The pilot’s survival is the one unambiguous fact in an event where, as so often with Russian mishaps, the official account is short on detail.
Sources: Russian Ministry of Defence (via RIA Novosti and TASS); Reuters; The Aviationist; Aviation Safety Network.
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