Many of the injured are children

An Emergencies Ministry spokesman said another 115 people were injured in the accident at the Skniliv airfield, many of them children.

The number killed makes this the world's worst air show disaster.

Officials said the two pilots had managed to eject after losing control of the Su-27 plane while performing complicated manoeuvres in the sky. They are reported to have survived.

The jet is believed to have clipped something on the ground when diving and then burst into flames, hitting the stands.

The Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma, has cut short his holidays to go to the scene, and the Defence Ministry has set up a commission to look into the causes of the crash.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin also sent his condolences.

Aviation specialist Paul Beaver says such an incident could not happen in western Europe, where crowd lines and display organisations would ensure that, even if something did go wrong, the aircraft would never fly directly into the crowd.

Identification

Witnesses said the jet was in the sky for about two minutes before diving. It is thought it clipped some trees and another plane on the ground before crashing.

The jet was performing complicated manoeuvres

A huge ball of fire engulfed the airfield as it hit the ground.

"There were dozens of bodies," said a television cameraman quoted by the Reuters news agency.

The Emergencies Ministry said the number of deaths could rise still further because many of the injured were in critical condition.

Russian television showed images of people with bleeding wounds on their heads, apparently having been hit by debris from the plane.

There were scenes of panic as parents searched for their missing children.

"I could only grab children and hold on. We were thrown away, and hands and legs were flying all around us," said Zinovy, a spectator at the event.

At least 20 ambulances were used to take the dead and injured to nearby hospitals.

Officials are working to identify the victims.

At the time of the crash, thousands of people were at the show, part of celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of a local air force unit.

The Soviet-designed Sukhoi-27 is a big long-range air fighter, comparable to the US F-15.

Analysts say that in air shows it has demonstrated an exceptional controllability at high angles of attack.