NEW YORK, August 31. /TASS/. The crashed F-16 plane, handed over to Kiev, could have been downed by the Ukrainian armed forces themselves using a Patriot air defense system, The New York Times reported citing a Western official.

According to the official, there are signs that the plane could have been downed by a Patriot system. However, malfunction and piloting mistakes also remain a possibility, the newspaper says.

Previously, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that an F-16 plane was lost, but provided no details, including the location of the incident. According to the Ukrainian armed forces, the plane crashed. Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya claimed that it could have been downed by a Patriot missile as a result of a mistake, and accused the Ukrainian command of covering the circumstances of the incident. Ukrainian air force commander Nikolay Oleschuk (included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia - TASS) threatened the lawmaker for this disclosure.