Video footage has emerged of what is believed to be a stricken Russian fighter jet falling out of the sky – thanks to its pilot who documented the incident on his smartphone as he dangled from his parachute.
The clip, published this weekend on the Telegram channel of Russian warblogger Kirill Fedorov and shared by Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko, shows an aircraft plummeting towards a blanket of thick clouds with flames trailing from one of its engines.
Anyone viewing the clip would assume it was captured by a drone – until the camera turns around to reveal the pilot suspended from his chute and wearing a helmet, visor and oxygen mask.
Clutching his phone in one hand as he reached a lower altitude, the pilot tore off his mask and exclaimed: ‘They f***ing shot us down!’
‘Turned on GPS but there’s no signal… we didn’t have time to achieve anything,’ he said breathlessly. ‘It’s all over… We went f***ing high.’
The aircraft is seen plummeting towards a blanket of thick, dark clouds with flames trailing from one of its engines
The pilot then films himself suspended from his chute and wearing a helmet, visor and oxygen mask
The pilot’s feet are seen dangling from his parachute after ejection
Fedorov blurred out the pilot’s face and declined to share more details to protect the Russian’s identity
The silhouette of the aircraft suggests the pilot was flying a member of the Russian Sukhoi ‘Flanker’ family of jets, several variants of which have been routinely deployed by Russia’s air force in Ukraine (Russian Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter is seen in 2019)
It is not clear exactly when and where the video was taken – Fedorov blurred out the pilot’s face and declined to share more details to protect the Russian’s identity.
But he claimed the pilot survived and is preparing to fly further combat missions.
The silhouette of the aircraft suggests the pilot was flying a member of the Russian Sukhoi ‘Flanker’ family of jets, several variants of which have been routinely deployed by Russia’s air force in Ukraine.
Variants include the original Su-27 multirole fighter jet, its modernised and upgraded Su-30 and Su-35 iterations, and the Su-34, which is specially designed to conduct bombing raids and deep strike missions.
The emergence of the incredible clip this weekend comes as Ukrainian pilots took to the skies for combat operations in US-made F-16 fighter jets provided by European countries for the first time, more than 29 months after Russia’s full scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday announced the deployment of F-16s, which Kyiv has long lobbied for, as he met military pilots at an air base flanked by two of the jets, with two more flying overhead.
‘F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these jets and have already started using them for our country,’ Zelensky said at a location that authorities refused to disclose for security reasons.
The arrival of the jets is a major milestone for Ukraine after its Western allies finally reconciled two years of concerns that arming Kyiv with advanced weaponry would further escalate the war with Russia.
Ukrainian officials say the addition of the F-16 represents a vital upgrade for its Air Force – though analysts say the deployment of the jets is unlikely to prove a turning point in the war, particularly given their delayed delivery date.
Built by Lockheed Martin, the F-16s had been on Ukraine’s wish list for a long time because of their destructive power and global availability.
They are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles, making them a valuable asset for Ukraine’s air force, particularly for air defence.
They will seek to intercept Russian missiles and drones that have relentlessly bombarded Ukraine, suppress enemy air defence systems, and strike Russian troop positions and ammunition depots with air-to-ground missiles.
Ukraine had previously relied on an ageing fleet of Soviet-era warplanes that are outgunned by Russia’s more advanced and far more numerous fleet.
Moscow has used that edge to conduct regular long-range missile strikes on targets across Ukraine and also to pound Ukrainian frontline positions with thousands of guided bombs, supporting its forces that are slowly advancing in the east.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to servicemen next to an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter F-16 jet during a ceremony to mark Air Force Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, 04 August 2024
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech on the stand in front of the first General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon received by Ukraine, congratulating the Ukrainian military on August 4, 2024
F-16 Fighting Falcons perform in the sky as President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech, Sunday, August 4, 2024
The Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16 fighter jets fly in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024
‘This is the new stage of development of the air force of Ukraine’s armed forces,’ Zelensky said of the F-16’s arrival.
‘We did a lot for Ukrainian forces to transition to a new aviation standard, the Western combat aviation,’ he added, citing hundreds of meetings and unrelenting diplomacy to obtain the aircraft.
‘We often heard ”it is impossible” as an answer, but we still made our ambition, our defensive need, possible,’ he said.
It remains unclear what missiles the jets are equipped with. A longer range of missile – such as British and French Storm Shadow missiles – would allow them to have a greater battlefield impact, military analysts say.
Zelensky stressed it was imperative that Kyiv’s allies find ways to expand training programmes and opportunities for both Ukrainian pilots and engineering teams to ensure the air force can operate the aircraft effectively over the long term.
The Ukrainian president said he also hoped, through conversations at the Ukraine-NATO Council platform, to lobby allied neighbouring countries to help intercept Russian missiles being launched at Ukraine.
‘The positive thing is that we are expecting additional F-16s… many guys are now training,’ he said, but
‘This is another tool, and I want to try it, so that NATO countries can talk to Ukraine about the possibility of a small coalition of neighbouring countries shooting down enemy missiles,’ he said.
‘This decision is probably difficult for our partners. They are always afraid of excessive escalation, but we are fighting that.’
Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the jets would help save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.
‘This means that more of the occupiers will be destroyed,’ Syrskyi wrote. ‘It means a greater number of downed missiles and aircraft used by the Russian criminals to attack Ukrainian cities.’
Russia meanwhile is said to be offering a £135,000 reward for the downing or destruction of each F-16.
Vladimir Putin has stated that the warplanes would not change the situation on the battlefield, but lead to a prolongation of the war.
He claimed that they would burn like other much-touted Western military equipment, and has openly said he will authorise Russian forces to strike Ukrainian airbases hosting the NATO jets.
F-16s, built by US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, have been on Ukraine’s wish list for a long time because of their destructive power and global availability
Ukraine has received the first tranche of western F-16 fighter jets that it has sought for months to be able to fight back against an onslaught of Russian missile strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sit in a F-16 fighter jet at Skrydstrup Airbase, in Vojens, Denmark, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023
Denmark has committed to donate 19 F-16 jets in total, while the Netherlands has promised to deliver 24 aircraft.
Both countries have been driving forces behind an international coalition to supply Ukraine with F-16s.
Norway has also said that it would donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
The first delivery of the jets comes almost a year after US President Joe Biden gave the go-ahead in August 2023 for used F-16s to be deployed to Ukraine, though the US won’t be providing any of its own planes.
But there are still a long list of challenges that Ukraine must negotiate to effective deploy the jets, said Marina Miron of the Defense Studies Department at King’s College London.
The roughly nine-month training in the US and Europe for Ukrainian pilots amounted to a crash course compared with the usual three-year course for Western pilots in what Miron calls ‘a very complex piece of machinery.’
The F-16s also require a large number of support personnel, such as skilled maintenance engineers, munitions loaders, intelligence analysts and emergency crews.
Ukraine must also establish a network of radar stations, reinforced hangars, a supply of spare parts and refueling systems. Quality airfields are also a must as the F-16 air intake is close to the tarmac and runs the danger of sucking debris and dirt into the engine.
‘So many associated issues need to be sorted out,’ Miron says.
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