Anatoly Antonov ridiculed what might have been the downing of the first such fighter delivered to Kiev with a US-provided Patriot missile battery. "Local instructors have failed to train the Ukrainians. I can imagine how they would shout if reports came that the hapless plane was brought down by our soldiers," the Russian envoy said in a comment released on the Telegram channel of the Russian diplomatic mission.
Earlier, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the loss of an F-16 fighter jet without providing any details about the incident, including regarding where it had occurred. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the plane crashed. Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya surmised that the fighter jet had been erroneously shot down with a Patriot surface-to-air missile as she blamed the army command for looking to hush up the incident. Air Force Commander Nikolay Oleshchuk (included on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists) issued threats to the legislator after those accusations.
SD/
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