“As per a decision by the head of the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, flights of Su-24 airplanes have been temporarily halted until an explanation for the reason of the incident,” the press service said in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, a military source told RIA Novosti that a Su-24 crashed near the Marinovka airport outside Volgograd.
There were two crew members on board, but their fate is still unknown.
A search for the aircraft is underway. The Russian Defense Ministry’s special commission will take part in the investigation into the tragedy.The Sukhoi Su-24 twin-engine frontline bomber was developed in the Soviet Union. The modified version, Su-24M, entered service in 1983 and is still in use by some former Soviet states. In 2010, the Russian Air Force decided to replace its Su-24s with modern Su-34s, with the full replacement to be completed by 2020.