A supersonic military aircraft has crashed into an apartment building in Russia’s south, killing at least four people. 

Footage on social media showed a large fireball, stoked by a full load of jet fuel, engulfing the building in the port city of Yeysk.

Early reports said four people were killed and 19 injured as a result of the crash.

The country’s defence ministry said the aircraft suffered engine failure on take-off but has launched a criminal investigation, given the incident occurred 70 kilometres from Ukraine.

“While climbing to perform a training flight from the military airfield of the southern military district, a Su-34 aircraft crashed,” a ministry statement said.

“The cause of the crash was a fire in one of the engines during take-off.”

Image: @sevslv / Twitter