Two American F-16 Fighting Falcons. Photo: US Air Force.
Yury Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, reiterated his call to the Ukrainian press and Telegram channels not to disseminate inaccurate information regarding the presence of F-16s in Ukraine . Rumors of F-16 fighter jets being present in Ukraine recently spread on social networking sites such as Telegram, Twitter and Facebook.
According to Mr. Ihnat, rumors began to spread after the US magazine Newsweek mentioned the opinion of an anonymous source that Ukraine may be operating US fighter jets and has the ability to use them to fight against Russia. Russian bombers again.
“The American publication Newsweek published an article with shocking baseless speculations about the presence of F-16s in Ukraine. This magazine even mentioned the F-16’s involvement in the destruction of 6 Russian aircraft. This is a great opportunity for false information to spread wildly on our Telegram channels and various media that do not care about their own reputation,” the Ukrainian official wrote.
Mr. Ihnat emphasized that this statement was completely fabricated and added that on the previous day, he participated in 23 live broadcasts of Ukrainian and foreign media to provide detailed information about the attack. Air Force missiles at the Russian Navy’s Novocherkassk landing ship and denied rumors about several F-16 aircraft being destroyed in Ukraine.
According to Ukrinform, Mr. Ihnat previously mentioned that the presence of F-16 aircraft in the near future in Ukraine is unlikely.
Recently, Ukraine’s Southern Operations Command also had to clarify that information circulating online about an F-16 fighter jet (rumored to be from Ukraine) being destroyed near Odessa was fabricated. put. A photo of a 2018 incident involving an F-16 fire at a Belgian air base was doctored to illustrate false claims that the F-16 was destroyed near Odessa.