Pro-Ukraine Hackers Claim to Have Caused a Russian Su-57 to Shoot Itself Down. Moscow Calls It a Technical Malfunction.

A Russian Su-57 fighter jet was destroyed. Ukrainian hackers say they caused it to malfunction mid-flight. Moscow says it was a technical problem. The aircraft is equally destroyed either way. Both explanations require the same dead pilot.

Weapon systems failing catastrophically during conflict is not new. What's new is the ambiguity lasting this long without resolution. Three weeks ago this would have been classified. Now it sits in the trade press while engineers file nothing.

The Su-57 program loses credibility whether the hack was real or not. If real, the jet's avionics are compromised. If not real, Russia's explanations are already hollow. Ukraine's claim doesn't need to be true to be effective. Moscow understands this. Moscow has stopped denying it.