A Russian pilot appears to have filmed himself descending with a parachute just moments after his single-seater fighter jet was shot down.
The dramatic footage, which was released on Telegram by pro-Kremlin military blogger Kirill Fedorov on August 4, 2024, shows the jet falling out of the sky with flames coming from one of its engines.
The clip captures the fighter pilot’s perspective as he ejects from the damaged aircraft and descends to the ground. The video begins high above the clouds, where the pilot’s jet can be seen spiraling out of control.
The exact aircraft type is unclear, but, according to local media, it appears to be a single-seated Flanker family jet, potentially a Su-27 or Su-35. Both have been widely used by Russian forces in Ukraine.
As the pilot descends, he films his parachute and survival kit below him, which includes an inflatable raft. At lower altitude, he removes his oxygen mask and speaks to the camera, claiming that the aircraft was “shot down”.
It is still not clear where and at what time the video was taken. On August 5, 2024, X user Damian Twardosz provided coordinates of the accident and identified the video’s location as a village near Chaplynka in the Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, close to occupied Crimea. This identification has not been officially confirmed.
“Judging by the calm behavior of the pilot, the plane was shot down deep in the Russian rear,” Anton Gerashchenko, Advisor of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs commented.