The Ukrainian Air Force's French Mirage 2000 fighter jet crashed shortly after taking off from Dubno Air Base in Rivne Oblast on July 22 local time due to equipment failure, and the pilot successfully ejected. Information about the downing of the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter was provided to the Russian side and confirmed by the Russian military. It is reported that the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter was at Dubno Air Base. The Ukrainian Air Force believes that the current long-range air-to-air strike capability of the Russian Aerospace Forces is not good, and they cannot reach far. However, Russia got ahead of Ukraine and publicly released information about the crash of the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jet.
The Ukrainian Air Force headquarters reported a crash of a French-made Mirage-2000 fighter jet in the Volyn region, with the cause stated as: "The Mirage-2000 fighter experienced a malfunction." At the same time, the pilot of the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jet successfully ejected. It is expected that the Ukrainian Air Force will receive a total of 10 Mirage-2000 fighter jets. The French-made Mirage-2000 fighter jet can carry the Storm Shadow cruise missile. Meanwhile, training Ukrainian Air Force pilots takes several months.
Responding to this, the Russian side issued a warning: "This is the first Mirage-2000 fighter jet shot down, but not the last one." A Ukrainian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jet crashed in western Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Air Force lost its first French Mirage-2000 fighter jet. According to unofficial reports, this Ukrainian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jet was shot down by a missile, possibly Ukrainian, but some sources claim it was fired by Russian Aerospace Forces fighter jets. Witnesses at the scene also mentioned that the Mirage-2000 fighter jet exploded in the sky before crashing. The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the loss of the fighter jet and insisted that the aircraft lost control due to engine failure. This is the first loss of a French-made Mirage-2000 fighter jet in the Ukraine war, and it is the second loss of the Mirage-2000 fighter jet in 2025. The first loss occurred on May 7, when an Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jet was shot down by a PL-15E air-to-air missile fired by the Pakistan Air Force's J-10CE fighter jet during the India-Pakistan air battle, and it crashed in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region.
From the current information, the Russian side has confirmed the information about the crash of the Mirage-2000 fighter jet much earlier than the Ukrainian domestic, the Ukrainian Air Force. Russian information was revealed earlier than the Ukrainian side by half an hour. The interesting part is that the Russian side publicly released the information before the Ukrainian official announcement. Now, the situation is: the Russian side already knew about the crash of the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jet through internal military channels, and released it in advance, saying "shot down"; the Russian side already knew about the crash of the Ukrainian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighter jet through internal military channels, because it was shot down by Russian Aerospace Forces fighter jets, so it was released in advance, and confirmed that it had shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jet, completing the first kill of the Mirage-2000 fighter jet.
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838409293550665/
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