Did U.S. Patriot System Down Jet in Russia? What We Know, What We Don't

With reports that U.S. Patriot missile systems were responsible for shooting down at least one Russian fighter jet at a long-distance range, speculation has grown that they might have been used by Ukrainian armed forces to take out five aircraft in Russian airspace on May 13.

Ukrainian air force officials on Saturday said two Russian fighter jets and three helicopters were shot down over Russia's Bryansk region but appeared to suggest that Ukraine was not responsible for the strikes.

Russian state media also reported the downing of multiple aircraft over Russian territory near the Ukrainian border. Kommersant reported that an Su-34 and an Su-35 fighter jet were "shot down" as well as two Mi-8 helicopters, which were "supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine," it said.

The timing of the crashes led to speculation that Russia shot down its own aircraft over fears of Ukrainian incursions into Russian territory, as the U.K. confirmed it was supplying Storm Shadow missiles—which have a range of 155 miles—to the Ukrainian military.

Russian sources have provided conflicting accounts of the possible reason the aircraft went down, with Russian authorities insisting in the immediate aftermath that one of helicopters crashed due to engine failure.

It remains unclear what caused all five of the aircraft to crash in the same area in quick succession, but a carefully worded snippet in an article about F-16 fighter jet shipments to Ukraine on Friday has led some on social media to link the crashes to the Patriot system.

CNN cited unnamed defense officials and congressional staffers as saying that Ukrainian troops had used the U.S.-manufactured Patriot systems to shoot down at least one "faraway" Russian fighter jet in recent weeks.

While it did not say whether this was over Russian territory, the story noted that Russian jets had "largely been staying behind Russian defensive lines, making them difficult for Ukraine to target with shorter-range systems."

"From the CNN article, it is possible to assume that Patriot was involved in recent string of air crashes in the Bryansk region," wrote one Twitter user, who claims to be a former resident of Kherson, Ukraine.

"The article does not specifically say that 'Patriot shot down Russian jets in the Bryansk region.' But there is no other known event from the past week that would fit the description given in the article," they added.

Newsweek could not immediately verify this was the case.

Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based security analyst, also highlighted the story, saying it "very possibly solves the mystery of the Russian Su-34, the Su-35 and the two Mi-8 helicopters shot down over Bryansk last week; the Ukrainians snuck a Patriot system close to the border and hit them at long range."

Meanwhile, Ukraine Battle Maps speculated that a Patriot missile system placed near Chornyavka in northern central Ukraine would have had the range to hit the two fighter jets and two of the helicopters, according to where they crashed.

The missiles used in Patriot systems can have a range in excess of 93 miles, which would put the furthest crash site just within range, presuming the location of the missile system was as supposed.

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment on Friday.

The U.S. sent Ukraine two Patriot missile systems in December, in a bid to protect Ukrainian cities and military installations from an onslaught of Russian missiles that have become a common feature of the war since Russian forces were pushed into retreat.

While they were meant as a defensive tool, the use of American-made arms on military targets in Russian territory could pose the potential for a diplomatic escalation between the U.S. and Russia, which previously described Western arms supplies as a provocation.

CNN reported that U.S. officials said Ukraine was responsible for making its own decisions on what targets to attack using the Patriot missile systems once they had been supplied.