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Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine has been insisting on asking Western allies for assistance with F-16 fighter jets. In the eyes of the Ukrainian army, this old fighter jet can still play a big role on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, at least helping to offset part of the air superiority gained by the Russian Air Force. For various reasons, allies such as the United States and Denmark gradually delivered a small number of fighter jets after a long tug-of-war. This batch of precious F-16 fighter jets has become the most cherished weapon of the Ukrainian army.

▲The white building in the picture allowed the Russian military blogger to determine the storage location of the F-16 fighter jets

However, according to reports, a promotional video shot by the Ukrainian Air Force today may have exposed the storage location of the F-16 fighter jets, which made many Russian military bloggers ecstatic. Russian military writer Alexi Voyevoda told his 150,000 fans on the 25th that "the Ukrainian Air Force made an unforced error. I found that they put the F-16 fighter jets in a standard Soviet-era reinforced hangar." This news quickly spread among Russian military bloggers, and many experienced and senior bloggers judged that the Ukrainian Air Force stored the F-16 fighter jets in a concrete bunker at the Ivano-Frankivsk Air Force Base.

The base is located in the rugged foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, the westernmost part of Ukraine, close to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and the border with Poland, a NATO member. This is not surprising, as Ukraine officially received its first batch of F-16 fighter jets in July this year. Previously, some media predicted that the F-16s would be placed in the westernmost airport to avoid Russian attacks. In addition, Ivano-Frankivsk is close to the border of NATO member states, which will make Russia "afraid to use the weapon" when launching an attack, and it must be cautious.

▲On August 4, the Ukrainian Air Force's F-16 fighter jets flew at a secret location. According to Visual China

Russian military blogger Vornin, who has more than 600,000 followers, said, "They (the Ukrainian Air Force) screwed up, really screwed up this time! Just as we thought, they hid the F-16 fighter jets in the far west." Vornin pointed out that in the video released by the Ukrainian Air Force on the 25th, there was a scene in which Commander Oleschuk visited the mother of Major Pirshikov. A white building in the background of the picture allowed Russian military bloggers to finally determine the location of the F-16 fighter jets.

Major Pilshikov was a former Ukrainian ace pilot with excellent enemy-killing performance. He earned the nickname "Juice" during his training and learning to fly an F-16 fighter jet in the United States because he preferred to drink juice rather than alcohol. Pilshikov died in 2023. The Ukrainian military commander invited his mother to sit in the cockpit of the F-16 fighter jet to experience the combat environment of her son before his death. However, the white building that flashed by in this video happened to be the dormitory next to the Ivano-Frankivsk Air Force Base.

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the United States claimed that it had been unwilling to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine due to concerns about the escalation of the conflict. After lengthy negotiations, the United States finally agreed that European countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Norway would provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. However, the F-16 fighter jets in these countries are as old as 30 or 40 years old, and are not equipped with the latest firepower equipment, which makes it impossible to exert the maximum combat power of this model. In addition, due to the slow training of Ukrainian pilots, it is believed that Ukraine has actually received only a few F-16 fighter jets so far. Zelensky once complained that Ukraine had more than 20 pilots ready to receive flight training for F-16 fighter jets, but the United States could only train 2-4 people at a time, which greatly delayed the process of F-16 fighter jets being put into actual combat.

As of now, the Ukrainian military has not responded to this, but some media speculated that this might be a flaw deliberately exposed by the Ukrainian military to induce the Russian side to mislocate the location of the F-16 fighter.

Red Star News reporter Zheng Zhi

Editor Yang Ran Responsible Editor Feng Lingling