Russia lost one of its irreplaceable Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers in a deadly training crash

The Tu-95 turboprop aircraft forms the backbone of Russia's long-range nuclear bomber fleet. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images One of Russia's Tu-95 strategic bombers crashed during a training flight in the Amur region, killing six crew members, the country's defense ministry said on Tuesday.The plane was not carrying any ammunition, and a seventh crew member survived the initial crash and was hospitalized, the defense ministry added, per state media."A Tu-95 military aircraft made an emergency landing while conducting a training flight near Krasnoyarovo. The crew did everything possible to divert the aircraft away from residential buildings," the ministry said in a statement.According to state media, the bomber went down shortly after taking off from the Ukrainka air base. The Amur region is in eastern Russia, bordering China's Heilongjiang province.Russian officials have not said what caused the crash. The Russian defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.Russia is believed to possess 47 Tu-95MS bombers, though Ukrainian intelligence said in August that combat losses, maintenance issues, and a shortage of parts have reduced its operational fleet to 37 or 38 planes.The crash comes more than a year after Ukraine conducted a surprise drone attack, Operation Spiderweb, on a Russian air base in June 2025 that damaged an estimated seven to eight Tu-95 aircraft.The turboprop aircraft, capable of flying up to 9,300 miles without extra fueling, forms the backbone of Russia's air-based nuclear attack capability and is often compared to the American B-52 Stratofortress. The B-52 Stratofortress forms the backbone of the US' nuclear bomber fleet. Leon Neal/Getty Images Losing one of these bombers is a significant blow to Russia's long-range nuclear attack fleet. The Kremlin can no longer make any more of these aircraft, after dismantling production facilities in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed. The Tu-95MS can carry up to 16 nuclear or conventional missiles at a time, and Russia has more recently used the bomber to launch Kh-101 and Kh-555 precision cruise missiles at Ukraine from far behind the front lines.The fleet is supplemented by about 18 Tu-160 bombers, which are heavier, more modern aircraft with jet engines capable of supersonic speeds. Moscow is actively building these newer aircraft, but production has been slow as Russia faces international sanctions on high-end parts, with one or two planes delivered a year, if any. The Tu-160 is Russia's modern nuclear bomber. AFP via Getty Images About two-thirds of these Tu-160s are also believed to be grounded for maintenance and upgrades, per Ukrainian open-source analysts who monitor satellite imagery and registries of Russia's airfields and aircraft workshops.Ukraine said last year that Operation Spiderweb had also struck four Tu-160s, though satellite imagery has only shown that one or two of them sustained repairable damage.Russia also fields the Tu-22M3 supersonic nuclear bomber, which can only fly roughly half as far as a Tu-95. It started the war with about 41 Tu-22M3 aircraft on its service registry, but attrition from Ukrainian attacks and crashes has whittled its estimated operational fleet down to as few as nine flightworthy planes. Read next Matthew is a senior reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau. He covers the defense industry, military technology, and evolving tactics in Ukraine, the US, and the Asia-Pacific region.He joined the team in June 2021, previously focusing on internet crime and labor, examining how these issues impact modern society in Asia, with a particular emphasis on China.Matthew's previous work has been featured in the South China Morning Post, as well as Singaporean news companies TODAY and The Business Times.