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On November 22nd, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched missile strike on the international airfield in the eastern city of Dnipro (Dneproptrovsk). Russian Iskander-M missile struck the airfield infrastructure.
The attack was filmed by Russian UAV that confirmed the damage. The footage showed that the missile destroyed a hidden aircraft. It was first reported that the target of the attack was the MiG-29 of the Air Force of Ukraine. However, according to the analysis of Russian military specialists, this is the first ever filmed destruction of the American F-16 fighter in Ukraine.
According to the analysis, the footage shows the narrow and streamlined fuselage, trapezoidal wings, a vertical keel and the air intake in the center under the fuselage that are distinctive features of the F-16. The Soviet MiG-29 have wider fuselage with side air intakes, larger wings, double tail unit and side air intakes. The more massive silhouette of the MiG-29 is completely excluded, the experts concluded.
If true, this is the first destruction of F-16 fighter in Ukraine confirmed by the footage. The first precious F-16 was destroyed by friendly fire of the US-made Patriot system in the Rivne region. The incident took place immediately after the deployment of the aircraft in Ukraine was officially confirmed.
The Ukrainian military once again confirmed that it cannot effectively use the expensive Western military equipment supplied by NATO countries. The Ukrainian military cannot defend itself from either Russian strikes or friendly fire. F-16 are precious targets for Russian forces, since they can launch Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles, now including deep in the Russian rear areas.
