The russian Su-34 fighter jet, which russian bloggers claimed had crashed, could have been shot down by a Ukrainian F-16.
The Institute for the Study of War writes about this.
They recalled that on October 12, a blogger who writes about russian military aircraft reported the loss of an Su-34 aircraft. He did not say when and where it happened. However, he added that the crew of the fighter was killed.
Other military bloggers have speculated that the Su-34 may have crashed due to a technical malfunction or human error.
A russian Telegram channel said to be run by russian airborne officers and the headquarters of russia's Dnepr Group of Forces reported that a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was believed to have shot down a russian Su-34 fighter jet while the latter was dropping high-explosive aerial bombs (FABs) with unified planning and correction modules (UMPC) at a distance of about 50 kilometers from the front line. However, this Telegram channel later deleted the information, writing that the fighter jet crashed due to a technical malfunction or an error by the pilot, who may have been tired and exhausted.
"ISW cannot independently confirm the statement of the Telegram channel. However, if it is confirmed, the incident will be the first Ukrainian shooting down of a Russian piloted aircraft from a Western-provided F-16 fighter jet," the report says.
At the moment, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied the downing of the Su-34.
If the downing of the russian Su-34 is confirmed, it would be the first known case of F-16s provided by Western partners hitting a russian aircraft.
Recall that the russian blogger Fighterbomber published an obituary about the crew of the Su-34 fighter without providing details of his death.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on August 29, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the loss of the first F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine.
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