That is the primary accident involving an F-16 since they started arriving in Ukraine late final month.
Ukraine has introduced that one of many few F-16 fighter jets donated by its Western allies to struggle the Russian invasion has crashed whereas repelling a significant Russian air assault.
The pilot was killed within the incident, which passed off on Monday after Russia launched greater than 200 missiles and drones in one in every of its largest bombing raids of the conflict.
That is the primary reported destruction of an F-16 in Ukraine, and comes simply weeks after kyiv started receiving the jets.
A minimum of six of the planes are believed to have already been delivered.
“F-16 fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had been used to repel a missile assault on the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, along with items of anti-aircraft missile troops,” the Ukrainian navy stated.
He added that communication with the F-16 was misplaced because the planes approached their subsequent goal.
“Because it later emerged, the airplane crashed and the pilot was killed,” the navy stated.
The assertion didn’t identify the pilot, however a Ukrainian air power unit stated one in every of its pilots, Oleksiy Mes, had died in a crash on Monday.
“On August 26, whereas repelling an enormous mixed Russian air and missile assault, Oleksiy destroyed three cruise missiles and an assault drone,” Ukraine’s Western Air Command unit stated.
“Oleksiy saved Ukrainians from lethal Russian missiles. Sadly, at the price of his personal life,” he added.
Ongoing analysis
Month, identified by his callsign Moonfish, traveled to america as a part of Ukraine’s efforts to persuade the U.S. and different NATO allies to ship F-16s.
After I met Ukrainian pilots Juice (left) and Moonfish (proper), I had a sense that they’d not survive the conflict. Juice died in August 2023, Moonfish died on Monday. They fought like hell for Ukraine and for the F16. Nickel within the grass. Slava Ukrainii picture.twitter.com/uErBmyQGBa
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraine) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) August 29, 2024
The US permitted the plan in 2023 and the primary plane arrived in kyiv on the finish of July. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have pledged to supply Ukraine with greater than 60 F-16s. Nevertheless, the Russian plane fleet is about ten instances bigger.
Ukraine’s Protection Ministry has launched an investigation into Monday’s crash.
A U.S. protection official instructed Reuters information company the crash didn’t seem like the results of Russian hearth and that potential causes starting from pilot error to mechanical failure had been being investigated.
Russia has continued its airstrikes on Ukraine since Monday’s assault.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian air power stated air defenses stopped two of the 5 Russian missiles and 60 of the 74 Shahed drones that had been fired. It added that the opposite 14 drones had been presumed to have gone down earlier than reaching their goal.
Authorities within the capital, kyiv, stated particles from the destroyed drones fell in three districts of the town, however there have been no accidents.
Ukraine says it wants no less than 130 F-16s to neutralize Russian air energy.
F-16s can fly at twice the pace of sound and have a most vary of three,200 kilometers (greater than 2,000 miles). They will additionally hearth fashionable weapons utilized by NATO international locations.
