Southern Defense Forces deny Russian fake about F-16 destroyed in Odesa

This was reported by the press service of the Southern Defense Forces on Telegram, Ukrinform reported.

"The invaders are spreading a photo of the F-16 aircraft 'destroyed' in Odesa, which was allegedly provided to them by their people from the Armed Forces. The occupiers are masters at writing fables and 'feeding' them to their citizens. The fact that green foliage is in full bloom against the background of the plane in mid-December did not bother the propagandists, and they do not understand that the whole truth can be found on the Internet," the statement said.

The Southern Defense Forces posted photos that show that the photo spread by the Russians illustrates an article by VRT news of October 12, 2018, and that in fact the photo shows an accidentally burned-out F-16 that was hit by an army training round at Florence Air Base in Namur Province (Belgium).

"The occupiers just needed to divert attention from the loss of their own aircraft," the press service said.

As reported, the spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ihnat, ridiculed the reports of Russian propagandists that the Russian army had allegedly already detected and shot down Western F-16 fighters in Ukraine.