The Luna-25 probe, Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, has crashed on the Moon after an incident during pre-landing manoeuvres, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday.

Communication with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 pm (1157 GMT) on Saturday, Roscosmos said. According to preliminary findings, the lander "has ceased to exist following a collision with the Moon's surface". "Measures taken on August 19 and 20 to locate the craft and make contact with it were unsuccessful," the space agency added.