A Ukrainian Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet flies overhead against a blue sky background, circa late 2025. Ukraine has used its small F-16 fleet to great effectiveness, including the apparent downing of a more advanced Russian Su-35 jet earlier this month. (Armed Forces of Ukraine)

Ukrainian F-16 Fighter Jet Shot Down Russian Su-35 Flanker-E/M, Caine Says

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The Su-35’s loss was first reported earlier in July, but was initially attributed to a Ukrainian anti-air missile system and not the Fighting Falcon.

This week during testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told lawmakers that a Ukrainian F-16 Fighting Falcon had scored an air-to-air kill, downing an unidentified Russian jet fighter. If confirmed, it would be the first successful aerial victory of the US-made single-engine multirole fighter—coming nearly two years after Kyiv received the first batch of the aircraft.

“We recently witnessed the first air-to-air engagement in which a Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian fighter,” Caine said, citing the incident as evidence that Ukraine had expanded its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) air defense network.

“Over the past several years, with the support of many partners,........

© The National Interest