Main points of Ukraine’s first F-16 loss printed via Zelensky’s military leader

A Ukrainian pilot killed within the first recognized F-16 fighter jet crash within the war-torn nation past due ultimate month as was once “chasing” a cruise missile on the time, Kyiv’s military leader has mentioned. No additional main points have been presented on the reason for the deadly incident as an investigation rumbles on.Considered one of Ukraine’s scarce and recently-received F-16 fighter jets crashed in past due August, killing its pilot, Lt. Col. Oleksiy Mes.”I wish to say that the pilot who died, he shot down two missiles and he was once simply attacking, chasing the 3rd cruise missile, the usage of on-board guns,” Common Oleksandr Syrskyi advised The Gentleman Report.The crash came about simply weeks after the primary Western deliveries of the U.S.-made fourth-generation plane to Ukraine. Even if the lack of F-16s is inevitable in an energetic warfare, the crash is however a blow to the Ukrainian Air Power, which has lengthy waited for the complicated fighter jets donated via its allies.

Two MiG-29 planes fly over the sq. in honor of the fallen hero-pilot right through the ceremony of burial of Ukrainian F-16 pilot Oleksiy Mes. at the Day of Remembrance for Fallen Heroes, as loads attended…
Two MiG-29 planes fly over the sq. in honor of the fallen hero-pilot right through the ceremony of burial of Ukrainian F-16 pilot Oleksiy Mes. at the Day of Remembrance for Fallen Heroes, as loads attended a farewell rite for the deceased tactical aviation pilot within the central sq. of town on August 29, 2024 in Shepetivka, in Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) Ukraine. The result of the investigation into Lt. Col. Mes’ demise “shall be recognized to everybody in a while,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief mentioned.
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Ukraine’s air power mentioned in a commentary that Mes had died whilst “repelling an enormous Russian mixed air and missile assault,” eliminating 3 cruise missiles and an assault drone. The Common Body of workers of Ukraine’s defense force one by one mentioned that touch was once misplaced with the F-16 whilst it repelled Russian missile moves.Hypothesis has surrounded the reason for the crash after Mariana Bezugla, a Ukrainian flesh presser sitting at the nation’s parliamentary protection committee, mentioned the F-16 had fallen sufferer to pleasant fireplace from a Patriot air protection machine. Syrskyi declined to touch upon whether or not pleasant fireplace was once accountable for the crash.An unnamed U.S. protection reliable advised Reuters that Russian fireplace didn’t seem to be the offender, pointing to different imaginable causes akin to mechanical failure or pilot error.A fee inside Ukraine’s protection ministry is dealing with the investigation and can post its conclusions “in a while,” Syrskyi mentioned, calling the crash a “disaster.”Ukraine’s F-16 pilots are “extremely educated,” Syrskyi mentioned, including: “They have been educated within the instructional establishments of our spouse international locations, and naturally, the most efficient pilots have been decided on who already had revel in in successfully the usage of the plane which might be in provider with the Ukrainian defense force.”Kyiv officers have publicly expressed some frustration with Ukraine’s allies over coaching schedules and the selection of pilots ready to finish coaching in Western international locations.The Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, mentioned the U.S. had “failed to coach the Ukrainians.””We, in fact, teach our pilots and so they teach each day, they’re getting ready to behave towards quite a lot of varieties of enemy air assaults,” Syrskyi mentioned.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky temporarily disregarded Ukraine’s air power commander, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, following the crash. Even if the Ukrainian chief did indirectly reference the crash, he mentioned in his night time deal with days after the pilot’s demise got here to mild that Kyiv’s best officers will have to “care for other people,” including: “I’m immensely thankful to all our army pilots.”

Author: OpenAI