Ukraine Confirms F-16 Crash, Pilot's Death

Ukraine's Army General Staff on Thursday confirmed that one of its F-16 fighter jets crashed on Monday and killed the pilot inside.

On Monday, Russia carried out a major missile and drone attack on Ukraine, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that Moscow launched over 100 missiles and 100 drones in the assault. However, four of the Russian strikes were intercepted by F-16s, according to a statement from Kyiv's military posted on Facebook.

The F-16 crash is the first reported loss of one of the U.S.-made fighter jets after Ukraine received several F-16s late last month. At least six F-16s are believed to have been delivered to the war-torn country from its allies.

The deceased pilot has been identified as Oleksii Mes, known by the call sign "Moonfish," by the Ukrainian Air Force's Western Air Command.

"Oleksii destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack drone while repelling a massive Russian combined air and missile attack," the Western Air Command said, according to a translation by the Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian online newspaper. "Oleksii saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles. Unfortunately, at the cost of his own life."

Ukraine's defense ministry is investigating the crash.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has destroyed civilian areas in the Eastern European country with its long-range strikes.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway—all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—have committed to give Ukraine over 60 F-16s to help combat Russian forces. NATO has supported Ukraine throughout the war.

While the F-16s are sure to help Ukraine, with Zelensky saying on Tuesday that the jets showed good results in Monday's attack, Russia has roughly 10 times more fighter jets than Ukraine. According to Kyiv officials, the country needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralize Russian air power.

Zelensky has repeatedly asked its allies to lift restrictions on the weapons it supplies to Ukraine so that it can fire them deep inside Russia to destroy key military infrastructure.

"All our partners should be more active—much more active—in countering Russian terror," Zelensky said late Wednesday. "We continue to insist that their determination now—lifting the restrictions on long-range strikes for Ukraine now—will help us to end the war as soon as possible in a fair way for Ukraine and the world as a whole."

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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