Does a viral clip show a fighter jet shooting down another one during July 2025 clashes between Thailand and Cambodia? No, that's not true: The video predates the violence that broke out in that region in late July of 2025. Earlier version of the clip have been online at least since mid-June 2025 and were described as footage from the Russia-Ukraine war at the time.
The video clip appeared in a post (archived here) on X where it was published on July 24, 2025. It opened:
The Thai military launched an attack on Cambodia first. Cambodia has the right to defend itself and its national sovereignty. Thailand has invaded Cambodia using military force. #ថៃជាអ្នកផ្តើមសង្គ្រាម #ThailandStartedTheWar #ไทยเป็นผู้เริ่มสงคราม
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: Screenshot of the x.com/twtSila7 account)
The video showed one of the two planes from the opening shot going down over what looked like a semi-rural area. However, contrary to the claim, it had nothing to do with clashes at the border between Thailand and Cambodia (archived here) in July 2025.
According to TinEye, which is a reverse image search tool, the clip started to circulate on the internet on June 13, 2025:
(Image source: Screenshot of tineye.com)
On that day, the video spread on Russian social media accounts. One of the earliest versions of the video from Telegram (archived here) was a little longer, and the last seconds of the recording captured a man saying behind the camera in Russian: "Blya, a plane is flying... (inaudible)."
The same post alleged that the footage showed an SU-25 jet being shot down and that it was filmed near Soledar in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Lead Stories wasn't able to independently geolocate the footage or confirm the specific circumstances of the incident.
