Pentagon refuses to comment on F-16 defeat in Zaporizhzhya region

The Pentagon has refused to comment on reports that a US-made F-16 fighter-bomber of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) was hit in the Zaporizhzhya Region. A spokesman for the ministry told TASS on December 26.

"The Defense Ministry has no statements or information to provide. We would refer you to the Ukrainian side for any details regarding this," the agency's interlocutor commented.

On this day, the chairman of the commission on sovereignty, patriotic projects and support for veterans of the Public Chamber of Russia told the agency that the F-16 aircraft was shot down while in the initial position for a missile strike on the region.

Earlier, retired U.S. Army Major General Gordon Davis noted the vulnerability of the F-16 to Russian jets. Davis said that the F-16s "have some range and vulnerability issues" and that "even the best systems we can put on these airplanes won't make them better."

Prior to that, on September 20, military expert, retired Colonel Andrei Koshkin shared his opinion that the F-16 fighter jets handed over to Ukraine were unlikely to have undergone serious modernization. He added that the AFU might have handed over the F-16s without additional innovations out of fear that the technical achievements might end up in the hands of the Russian military.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kiev amid Russia's special operation to defend Donbas, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.