If it's an own goal over Ukrainian-held territory can we really claim the F-16 was shot down during a combat mission?
Any mission in a combat zone is considered a combat mission regardless of whether enemy contact is made or its intended purpose. The hours logged by the pilot/crews is also "combat hours."
I am sure it is similar in most countries (but I'm not certain), so for example we would log:
1. Normal flight time - when flying in a non-hostile region, for example a training flight in the United States.
2. Imminent Danger time - when flying in a non-combat zone, but there is the possibility of hostile fire for example when flying over Kosovo as part of the KFOR NATO Peace Keeping mission
3. Combat time - when flying anywhere in a combat zone regardless of the purpose or mission.
Just as an example I have over 600 hours of combat time logged, but very little of it involved a "combat flight such as an air assault, most of it was flying troops and supplies between bases. During that time though we were fully armed, loaded, and ready to fire at all times.
I also have like 400 hours of imminent danger time logged while in support of peace keeping missions, but our weapons were stowed and never loaded. We had them on board incase we were fired upon, but never needed them.