Russian firm offers $170,000 bounty for destruction of first F-16 in Ukraine

A Russian company FORES announced a 15 million rubles ($169,590) reward for the first destruction of Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. 

This announcement comes as Ukraine expects 24 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to arrive this summer.

“We’ll also give the rewards for the destruction of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. The reward for the first one will be 15 million rubles,” said the company’s deputy executive director.

This is not the first time FORES, an Ural-based supplier of ceramic proppant for oil towers, offered such incentives.

Last year, the company promised 5 million rubles ($56,561) for the first destroyed Leopard or Abrams tank, 2 million ($22,624) for the second, and 500,000 rubles ($5,656) for subsequent ones. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the initiative, saying that while Russian forces “will burn all the tanks that the West supplies to Ukraine anyway,” the prize would serve as an additional incentive.

Last year, a Russian music group “Zemlyany” promised between 700,000 ($7,918) and one million rubles ($11,312) for a destroyed Leopard tank, according to Russian media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the need for 128 F-16 jets to achieve air parity with Russia, which deploys 300 aircraft daily against Ukraine. He underscored that even 50 jets would be insufficient for Ukraine’s defense.

Related:

• F-16s alone won’t win war, Ukrainian FM Kuleba tells CNN
• F-16s en route to Ukraine: Netherlands adds € 300 million for crucial munitions
• France pledges to train 26 Ukrainian pilots for F-16s for next two years
• Denmark allows Ukraine to use F-16s against military targets within Russia, dismisses Russian threats