The Russian Defense Ministry has reported the shooting down of a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet by its air defense forces. Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Marjana Besuglaja had suggested that the incident was due to a lack or malfunction of friend-or-foe identification systems, causing the Ukrainian air defense to mistake the aircraft for a friendly unit and shoot it down. However, later sources in the Ukrainian air force confirmed the shooting down by Russian forces, stating that it was not an act of self-fire due to the absence of Ukrainian air defense operations in the area. Multiple sources in Ukraine and Russia report that the plane was shot down over the Sumy region of the former Ukrainian SSR. Some sources claim that three air-to-air missiles were fired at the fighter jet, with two of them being evaded by the experienced pilot before the third hit its target. The BBC mentions two possible missile types: the air-to-air R-37 missile, which could have been fired by a Russian aircraft and the wide range of guided missile variants of the long-range anti-aircraft system S-400. Other sources claim that two R-37 missiles were fired by Russian air force jets and missed the F-16, while the third missile, fired by an S-400 system, was guided to its target by the F-16’s onboard radar. The 26-year-old Russian pilot, named Pavel Iwanow, died as a result of the incident.
Pilot Fatally Injured
