One of Moscow’s fighter jets has been shot down by Ukrainian forces, according to a military blogger with links to the Russian air force. Another pro-Moscow milblogger said that a Western-supplied F-16 had downed the Sukhoi Su-34 aircraft.
Neither report has been confirmed and Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment over the unverified claims which have sparked much speculation on social media.
The Telegram channel Fighterbomber posted a message on Saturday that looked like a tribute to a lost Su-34 fighter jet. Next to an image of the supersonic medium-range fighter bomber, which has been a mainstay of Russia’s aviation efforts in the war it started, it said, “the earth is the sky, brothers.”
The pro-Moscow Telegram channel VDV for Honesty and Justice shared the post, adding more detail.
“Urgent!!! Our Su-34 has been shot down. The crew was killed,” it said, adding that the aircraft “was apparently shot down by an F-16, which was over enemy-controlled territory.”
It also said that the plane had been shot down during an air bomb drop “approximately 50 km (30 miles) from the front line,” without giving details of where it had got the information from.
“Soon there will be more such losses. NATO has sent F-16s out to hunt,” it added, “as a result, our infantry losses will increase.”
Ukraine said it had received its first tranche of the U.S.-made fourth-generation jets in August following President Joe Biden finally allowing their provision via third countries.
Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark are among a coalition of countries which have pledged more than 85 F-16 jets to Kyiv which are hoped to provide a better air power to Ukraine than the Soviet-era aircraft it has relied on.
Pro-Ukrainian social media users were quick to cite the claims that both a Russian fighter jet had been downed and that a U.S.-made jet supplied to Ukraine may have been involved.
“Russian channels already claiming it was an F-16 that shot down the Russian fighter jet,” posted NOEL reports.
“F-16 shoots down Russian SU-34. That’s exactly what the F-16s are in Ukraine for. So far only Russian sources have confirmed this—we’re waiting,” wrote Jürgen Nauditt.
Journalist Euan MacDonald wrote “excellent news if true.” Next to an image of the actor Tom Cruise in the film Top Gun, Jay in Kyiv posted, “F-16’s shooting down $40,000,000 Russian Su-34’s over Ukraine on Saturday afternoon. Damn son.”
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in May that it had “destroyed” nine Russian jets while in February, it said it had downed 10 of Moscow’s military aircraft over a period of 10 days.
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