A Ukrainian F-16 jet was destroyed in a crash following the American-made fighter’s first successful mission against Russia on Monday, according to a US official.
The fighter, one of six that arrived in Kyiv earlier this month, is not believed to have been shot down by enemy fire but rather crashed as a likely result of pilot error, the official told the Wall Street Journal.
The Ukrainian Air Force refused to confirm the crash or the status of the pilot, but a local official said earlier this week that pilot Oleksiy Mes died on Monday during a combat mission.
The F-16s were deployed that morning to help intercept the massive missile and drone barrage launched by the Kremlin, which saw more than 200 projectiles fired at half of Ukraine’s regions.
Following the attack, Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk, of northwest Ukraine, confirmed Mes’ death, noting that he was among the first Ukrainian pilots to be trained in the F-16s.
Mes often appeared in international stories covering the jets’ promised arrival in Ukraine, with the pilot even joining trips to Washington to urge lawmakers to deliver the F-16s to bolster Ukraine’s air defense.
Zelensky had touted the jet’s successful mission on Monday, saying they had “very good results.”
But the reported destruction of the jet is still a blow to Kyiv as worries surround whether the pilots are in fact adequately equipped to handle the new aircraft.
Mes and the other first wave of pilots were trained for just a year at the European F-16 Training Center in the Netherlands, as opposed to the four years a pilot in Denmark would typically spend training.
Kyiv has yet to say how many F-16s have been deployed in Kyiv, but a second US official told the WSJ that a total of six have arrived with trained pilots.
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have pledged to provide Ukraine with more than 80 F-16s after getting the green light from the Biden-Harris administration, with the first wave of fighters arriving on Aug. 4.
Other NATO nations, including the US, have volunteered to let additional Ukrainian pilots train using F-16s in their country, according to the WSJ.
The F-16s are a significant improvement from the Soviet-era jets that Kyiv has relied on in the past, but they now stand as a prime target for Russia, who stated that Monday’s attack was specifically aimed at Ukrainian airfields and energy facilities.
Following the barrage, Zelensky and Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi called on the West to provide more F-16 Falcon fighters.
The officials claimed that once Kyiv has an adequate arsenal of the American-made combat jet, Ukraine will be able to successfully defend itself against Russia’s aerial assaults.
