MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. About half of the airplanes and helicopters lost by the Ukrainian army were downed by its own air defense systems, Verkhovna Rada member Maryana Bezuglaya stated.

"About half of the airplanes and helicopters are shot down by our own air defense forces," she wrote on her Telegram channel.

She noted that the findings of the investigation into the loss of one of the first F-16 fighter jets delivered to Ukraine last August have yet to be made public. At the time, many Ukrainian media outlets and experts suspected that the aircraft had been downed by "friendly" air defense fire.

"The results of the investigation were promised to be released 'in the near future' six months ago, but so far, there has been complete silence," Bezuglaya wrote.

Initially, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed the loss of the F-16 but provided no details about the incident, including the location of the fighter’s destruction.

Bezuglaya claimed that the aircraft was mistakenly shot down by a Patriot surface-to-air missile and accused the Ukrainian command of concealing the circumstances surrounding its downing.