An American-made F-16 fighter jet, which the country had received a few weeks ago, crashed in Ukraine.
Its pilot, Oleksiy Mes, is dead. Mes was a very experienced pilot and one of the first Ukrainians to be trained in the F-16. He was nicknamed the “Moonfish” and made frequent media appearances as he visited Washington to press the US to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
Initial reports by the Wall Street Journal, citing a US official, said the plane was not shot down by Russian fire, even though it crashed during a massive Russian missile barrage in Ukraine on Monday. The crash appears to be due to pilot error.
Ukraine used F-16s for the first time in combat to shoot down Russian missiles during strikes this week, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The news that one of Ukraine’s few F-16s has been destroyed is a major blow to Kiev, which had begged for the jets for months before President Biden finally gave the go-ahead.
Kiev hopes the advanced aircraft will give its forces an edge on the battlefield, particularly to shoot down incoming Russian missiles and help protect troops on the front lines. The F-16s are vulnerable to Russian air defense missiles and are a high-value target for Moscow’s forces.
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