Ukraine confirms crash involving Western-donated F-16

One of the handful of F-16 warplanes that Ukraine has received from its Western partners to help fight Russia’s invasion has crashed killing the pilot.

The fighter jet went down on Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine, a military statement posted on Facebook said.

According to the statement, four of those Russian missiles were shot down by F-16s.

The crash is the first reported loss of an F-16 in Ukraine, where they arrived at the end of last month. At least six of the warplanes are believed to have been delivered.

The Defence Ministry has opened an investigation into the crash.

The Ukrainian air force in a Facebook post identified the pilot as Colonel Alexei ‘Moonfish’ Mes, who “saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles, unfortunately, at the cost of your own life.”

‘Moonfish’ and a fellow Ukrainian pilot, Andrii ‘Juice’ Pilshchykov, made an early, public visit to the US in June 2022 to press lawmakers and media to send F-16s to Ukraine.

They both continued to serve as public faces for Ukraine’s battle to secure its airspace. ‘Juice’ was killed in an accident in August last year.

“When I met with Ukraine pilots ‘Juice’ and ‘Moonfish’ I had a sick feeling they wouldn’t make it through the war,” former US congressman Adam Kingzinger posted on X.

“They fought like hell for Ukraine and the F16.”

Earlier on Thursday, Russia conducted a heavy aerial attack on Ukraine for the third time in four days, again launching missiles and drones that mostly were intercepted, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russian forces fired five missiles and 74 Shahed drones at Ukrainian targets, an air force statement said.

Air defences stopped two missiles and 60 drones, and 14 other drones presumably fell before reaching their target, it said.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, said debris of destroyed drones fell in three districts of the city, causing minor damage to civilian infrastructure but no injuries.

Russia’s relentless long-range strikes on civilian areas have been a feature of the war since the February 2022 invasion.

NATO members Belgium, Denmark the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 F-16 jets.

That number is dwarfed by the Russian jet fighter fleet, which is around 10 times larger.

Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralize Russian air power, Kyiv officials say.