Yeysk lies on the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov, about 45km from the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region on the opposite shore.

An unverified video posted on Telegram by Baza, a channel with links to Russia’s security services, showed a fighter jet flying low over the sea near the shore, then plunging into the water a split-second after the pilot ejected, as a white parachute drifted down.

Another unverified video showed the parachute, and a large splash that presumably marked the crash site, seen from a nearby beach full of holidaymakers.

The officials from Russia’s Krasnodar region said the pilot had been retrieved from the sea, but the state news agency TASS later said he had died.

Last October, a more advanced Su-34 fighter-bomber crashed into a residential building in Yeysk, killing 14 people.