2024-09-20T21:25:00+03:00 War in Ukraine 2024-09-24T04:00:01+03:00

Ukrainian news

Likely cause of Ukrainian F-16 crash is impact of fragments of downed missile - media

Likely cause of Ukrainian F-16 crash is impact of fragments of downed missile - media

The Ukrainian F-16, piloted by pilot Oleksii Mes, probably crashed after being hit by a downed russian missile.

The Breaking Defense portal writes about this with reference to sources in Ukraine.

Mes's plane, along with others, shot down russian missiles and drones during a massive missile attack. Aviation interacted with Patriot systems and other ground air defense batteries.

The cause of the plane crash could be that one of the fragments of the russian missile, which was shot down by the planes, got into the plane's engine.

This debris could have damaged the engine and other parts of the plane, causing it to break into pieces. The pilot, Mes, probably was killed before he could eject.

The interlocutor of Breaking Defense claims that this has already happened before. Due to the wreckage, the Air Force lost two MiG-29s and two SUs. However, these cases did not gain publicity in the mass media.

We will remind, on August 29, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the loss of the first F-16 fighter in Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on August 29, MP Maryana Bezuhla stated that the F-16 was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex.

At the same time, American and Ukrainian investigators do not consider "friendly fire" to be the cause of the downing of the fighter.