Details Have Emerged About The Dogfight Between The F-16 And The Su-35
- 9.07.2026, 7:56
The Ukrainians lured the Russian pilot into a trap.
Ukrainian journalist Ivan Yakovina attempted to reconstruct the chronology of the dogfight between Ukrainian F-16s and a Russian Su-35, which ended in the defeat of the Russian fighter, writes “Dialog”.
Commenting on information from Russian sources, the journalist concluded that Ukrainian pilots used a ruse to lure the Russian pilot into a trap, where he was attacked by missiles from both the air and the ground. Yakovina noted that the Su-35 is a newer fighter than the F-16, equipped with more advanced radars and long-range missiles. The journalist speculates that, upon spotting the Ukrainian F-16s, the Su-35 gave chase, hoping to shoot them down, relying on its performance advantage.
“But the Ukrainian pilots didn’t flee; they sort of turned around and engaged it in combat. In modern combat, aerial combat means firing missiles at the enemy while simultaneously evading the enemy’s missiles. To succeed in such a battle, you have to maneuver extensively, gain and lose altitude, try to outflank the enemy, and so on. But, as we can see from the Russian explanations, at some point the Ukrainians apparently used a ruse to lure the enemy’s Su-35 into the range of a ground-based Patriot air defense missile system, and missiles were also fired at the Su-35 from the ground,” — the journalist stated.
Thus, the Russian pilot had to evade missiles from two F-16s and the Patriot system simultaneously, which is an extremely difficult task. As a result, one of the missiles struck the enemy fighter. Yakovina believes that the Su-35 was hit by an AMRAAM missile fired by one of the F-16s, rather than a Patriot missile.
“Judging by the fact that the Russian pilot survived—at least that’s what the Russians are saying—and based on the condition of the aircraft, I can’t guarantee it 100 percent, but most likely it wasn’t a Patriot missile that hit it. I’ll explain why. This missile is very large; it creates a massive explosion with a cloud of metal shrapnel that turns both the plane and its pilot into Swiss cheese—surviving such an explosion is simply impossible,” the journalist explained.