Putin’s nuke bomber CRASHES after takeoff in Russia in another crippling blow as vid shows $40m jet plunge in fireball

THIS is the moment Vladimir Putin's $40 million nuclear-capable Tu-22 bomber jet crashes - in another humiliating blow to the despot.

The valuable Russian aircraft came down in a fiery blaze after takeoff in Siberia, causing further embarrassment for Vlad as Ukraine continues its successful invasion of Russia.

Witnesses said the Tu-22M3 nuclear bomber - planes used by Putin as a key part of his nuclear arsenal - broke apart in the sky before crashing amid fierce explosions.

Dramatic footage showed the moment an enormous fireball filled the sky as the aircraft came down.

The crew of four ejected safely before the high-tech plane hit the ground and exploded in Irkutsk, Siberia, according to reports.

The plane crashed near the Cheryomkhovsky district of the Irkutsk region, some 3,300 miles east of Moscow.

No clear explanation was given for the fiery crash, but Russian state media kept to the line of a "technical malfunction".

A smarting Putin, struggling to fend off a Ukrainian border incursion in Kursk, this week deployed two Tu-22 planes to threaten the West in a nuclear drill over the Baltic Sea.

Meanwhile two Tu-95 strategic nuclear missile carriers buzzed the north of Britain by flying over the Norwegian Sea escorted by MiG-31 combat warplanes.

The Tu-22 came down on a highway after leaving Belaya airfield.

Locals said they saw multiple explosions at the crash site.

One report said: “The crew miraculously steered the falling plane away from residential buildings and ejected.”

Almost a year to the day Ukraine launched an impressive kamikaze drone strike on a military airbase deep inside Russia, destroying another of Putin's prized Tu-22 bombers.

Footage showed the crippling blow with an enormous fiery blaze of flames and black smoke filling the sky in Soltsy.

The Tupolev Tu-22 was deployed for the first time by Russia in its war in Ukraine during the "carpet-bombing" of Mariupol.

They are reported to have 60 of the terrifying aircrafts in operation.

It has an operational range of nearly 7,000km, which puts all of Europe and the east coast of the United States within its scope.

These Soviet-designed general-purpose air-dropped bombs with a high-explosive warhead are old but devastating in their indiscriminate damage.

The Tu-22 can also carry Kh-15 nuclear or anti-radar missiles, as well as Kh-22 long-range naval strike missiles.