A video shared on X claims to show a Ukrainian F-16 shooting down a Russian drone.

✈The first video of F16 shooting down Russian Orc Shahed has appeared 🔥 powerful work 🇺🇦🇺🇦✊.#UkraineWarNews #UkraineWar #UkraineRussiaWar #RussiaIsATerroristState #RussiaIsANaziState pic.twitter.com/ysNttK9qR3

— ✝ ⚔️ Hunter UA ✠ 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@UaCoins) September 9, 2024

Verdict: False

The origin of the video is from a video game. It does not show an actual F-16 shooting down a Russian drone.

Fact Check:

Social media users are claiming to show an F-16 shoot down a Russian Shaded kamikaze drone. One user wrote, “The first video of F16 shooting down Russian Orc Shahed has appeared 🔥 powerful work.”

This claim is false. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video was first posted on YouTube. It is titled, “F-16 vs Su-57…DCS.” (RELATED: Donald Trump Claims Kamala Harris Put In Place A Policy That Excuses Up To $1,000 Worth Of Theft)

“#dcs #dcsworld #digitalcombatsimulator #dogfight #f16 #airforce,” reads the video description. The video is taken from Digital Combat Simulator World, which is a combat flight simulator published by Eagle Dynamics.

Images and videos of Ukrainian F-16s have been published. For example, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy shared a video of Ukrainian Air Force F-16s conducting a flyby.

Ukrainian Air Force F-16 flybyhttps://t.co/UrSeHow82g pic.twitter.com/FclVENlZjc

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 4, 2024

F-16s have been used in missile defense, with one F-16 crashing during one such mission, according to NPR. The pilot died, the outlet reported.