Video Shows Russian Plane Engine Catch Fire on Takeoff

A Russian plane caught fire during takeoff from the city of Ulan-Ude in Buryatia, Russia, videos circulating on social media show.

"The plane landed. There were no injuries," the head of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov, said on his Telegram channel of the Tu-204 cargo plane, which was flying to Zhangzhou, China.

The engine of the Aviastar-TU aircraft caught fire during takeoff at Baikal International Airport, he said, adding that the plane was able to land safely, and that there were no injuries among the five crew members who were onboard the flight.

There have been multiple cases in recent months of Russian domestic passenger planes making emergency landings due to technical issues, driven by a lack of spare parts.

Aviastar-TU Airlines is a Russian cargo charter airline. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was the seventh Russian aircraft failure in a week.

The airport's general director, Dmitry Garmaev, told Russian state news agency Tass that the aircraft landed at 8:30 a.m. Moscow time.

Videos circulating online appear to show the plane mid-air and on fire.

The country's aviation industry has been hard hit by Western sanctions imposed over President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian-operated planes have been sanctioned by the U.S. government, and aircraft manufacturers have stopped delivering spare parts and new planes to the country.

The United States and the EU demanded the return of leased aircraft, although the Kremlin has sought to work around this by encouraging carriers to re-register the aircraft in Russia. This has meant that the planes have continued to fly without receiving crucial software upgrades and mandated maintenance checks that are needed to guarantee their airworthiness, Bloomberg reported in March.

Russia is attempting to try to bypass other sanctions and look for ways to substitute Western-made spare parts and equipment for its aircraft to keep the industry afloat.

According to the country's Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, Russia has lost 76 passenger jets due to Western sanctions.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said the Tu-204 aircraft has been suspended from flying to allow authorities to assess its technical condition.

Baikal International Airport is operating as normal, Garmaev said on his Telegram channel.

Gerashchenko said Tuesday that a passenger plane flying from Kazan to Moscow, around 530 miles to the west, made an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo International Airport in the Russian capital.

"This is already the sixth plane of Russian airlines in a week, which encountered a breakdown in the air," he said on X.

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