Robin van Lonkhuijsen / EPA / TASS
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The Russian Armed Forces soldiers received $30 thousand each in a unit of forty soldiers.
In June 2024, Forest announced its readiness to pay $30 thousand to Russian servicemen who shoot down the first F-16. The company also notes that it pays rewards to servicemen who shoot down tanks supplied to Ukraine by Western countries, including Abrams and Leopard 2. Allegedly, the payment for the first Western tank shot down was 5 thousand dollars, and for all subsequent ones – $15 thousand dollars.
“Money certificates were received by 40 servicemen who distinguished themselves in the combat operation received $30 thousand each one after the destruction of twelve Ukrainian F-16 was officially confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry on April 13, 2025,” the company noted.
After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, Forest paid $52.4 thousand dollars to servicemen and the families of the deceased, the press service noted.
The Kremlin supported the payment of rewards to Russian soldiers for tanks destroyed in Ukraine. The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that such initiatives testify to “unity, the desire of everyone to contribute, to the extent possible, directly or indirectly to the course of a special military operation, to the achievement of the main goals.”
Ukraine began receiving F-16s in the summer of 2024. In August of that year, the first American fighter jet delivered to Kiev crashed. Verkhovna Rada deputy Maryana Bezugla claimed that the F-16 was shot down by a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system “due to a lack of coordination between units.” Western media outlets have suggested pilot error as a possible cause of the crash.
In April 2025, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of another F-16 in Ukraine. Before that, the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported the death of 21-year-old pilot Pavel Ivanov “while performing a combat mission.” No details were given about the incident. Bezuglaya linked Ivanov’s death to the work of the Ukrainian air defense system, stating that “the friend-or-foe system has still not been regulated.”
In May, Ukraine reported losing contact with an F-16 “carrying out a mission to repel an air attack.” The pilot ejected and survived.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the F-16s supplied to Ukraine “will burn.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Moscow would regard the appearance of American fighters in Kiev as a nuclear threat from the West.
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