1993 Photo of Mid-Air Collision Shared as 'Ukraine Taking Down Russian Jet'

The original photograph was captured when two MiG-29 Russian jets suffered a mid-air collision in the UK.

Fact-Check | An old photograph from 1993 was falsely linked with the ongoing invasion attempt by Russia on Ukraine.

(Photo: The Quint)

A photograph of a mid-air collision has gone viral with a claim that it shows Ukraine taking down a Russia fighter jet amid Russia's "military operations" in Ukraine.

Both Russia and Ukraine have claimed to have shot down several aircraft since the attack from Russia began, the details of which are not verified yet.

However, we found that the viral image was close to 20 years old and was taken at a 1993 airshow at the Royal Air Force in Fairford, United Kingdom.

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CLAIM

The caption with the viral image said, "Things are beginning to get messy. Another Russian jet fighter taken down by Ukraine. World war III is real."

An archive of the post can be found here.

Similar captions were used in several other Facebook posts, archives of some of which can be found here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We conducted a reverse image search on the viral image and found a flipped version of the image posted on Air Team Images‘ Aviation Image Library.

According to the image details, the photograph was taken when two MiG-29 Russian jets suffered a mid-air collision while performing loops at an air show in Fairford, United Kingdom.

“No one was killed or seriously injured in the incident. The pilot can be seen ejecting,” the caption added.

An archive of the website can be found here.

We then conducted a keyword search for the 1993 crash in the UK and found reports about the same published in local news publications and aviation blogs. We also found a video of the incident published on Discovery's YouTube channel, in their series called "Destroyed in Seconds".

Evidently, an old photograph of a mid-air collision during an airshow has been shared with a false claim that it shows Ukraine shooting down a Russian jet.

However, it is important to note that the Ukrainian military have claimed to shoot down at least six Russian planes, according to a report by CNN but the Russian officials have denied the claim.

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