French media spread Russian fakes about five F-16s destroyed in Ukraine

Long before it was officially confirmed that Ukraine had received its first F-16 fighter jets from NATO allies, Russia has launched its propaganda campaign seeking to discredit the arrival of F-16s in Ukraine.

The most common narratives were like:

• “The arrival of the F-16 will not affect military operations in any way”;
• “F-16s will bring Ukraine more problems than benefits and will become easy prey for Russian air defense”;
• “The deployment of F-16s is just a PR campaign. The warplanes will not take part in the fighting”.

After Kyiv announced the arrival of the fighter jets on August 4, the Kremlin-backed media switched to another narrative — false claims of Ukraine losing multiple F-16s.

Russia spreads false claims of Ukraine losing four F-16s

One of them emerged on September 26, after the explosions were reported in the town of Starokostiantyniv in Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi region, where a major airbase is located. 

The Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration reported that one outbuilding was damaged. There were no civilian casualties and no damage to critical infrastructure, said Serhiy Tiurin, governor of Khmelnytskyi region.

Immediately after the attack, Russian propaganda outlets began reporting the destruction of four US-made F-16s at the Starokonstiantyniv airfield, citing a pro-Russian blogger, Anatoliy Shariy, who is suspected of treason in Ukraine. He provided no evidence to support these claims.

The fake news about the allegedly destroyed F-16s was followed by further disinformation. A Telegram channel Military Columnist shared a screenshot from Facebook, allegedly showing the wife of an American pilot claiming her husband was killed in the Starokostiantyniv attack. However, her profile does not exist on social media, suggesting that the image was photoshopped.

The next day, the bogus story about the destroyed warplanes and killed pilot emerged in French media. The Reseau International website wrote that at least four Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles hit the airfield, destroying the F-16s jets.

“Reports on the number of F-16s destroyed are conflicting. Some sources say four, others only two,” the website said.

Official Ukrainian sources dismiss information

Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation warned that Russian sources published unconfirmed claims that Ukraine lost four F-16 fighter jets on September 26. 

“The information is false. Such reports are another fake aimed at manipulating public opinion, created to reinforce the narrative about the 'ineffectiveness' of Western aircraft. Russian propaganda started spreading claims about the downing of F-16s even before the fighter jets arrived in Ukraine,” said the Center.

However, French media opted to reduplicate another Russian disinformation, ignoring official sources. 

Despite ongoing efforts to combat Russian propaganda, the EU's information space is still filled with Russian information dumps and disreputable media that do not verify information but spread fakes that contribute to Russian influence on European minds.