US-made F-16 fighter jet crashes during Russian assault, top pilot killed, says Ukraine

Weeks after the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets arrived in Ukraine, a US-made plane crashed during Russian aerial assault on Monday killing a top Ukrainian pilot.

According to a CNN report, citing Ukrainian military source, the Ukrainian Defence Forces do not believe pilot error was behind the incident.

The pilot, identified as Oleksiy Mes, popularly known as “Moonfish”, was killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack” by Russia against Ukraine, CNN reported, citing the source, adding that the pilot was buried on Thursday.

The crash is under investigation, and international experts will be brought in to assist with the probe, CNN quoted the source as saying.

The death of the pilot is a significant loss for Ukraine as “Moonfish” was among the few pilots trained to operate them.

On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  said that the Ukrainian Air Force had used F-16s to intercept Russian missiles and drones on Monday, marking the first official confirmation of the jets’ combat deployment.

Kyiv had long awaited the arrival of the F-16s, with President Zelenskyy appealing to Western allies for the jets since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Like other military equipment, the provision of F-16s faced delays as Western countries initially hesitated. The Netherlands and Denmark pledged to supply the jets in early summer of 2023, but the US only approved the transfer a few weeks later.

Upon their arrival earlier this summer, Zelenskyy said he and his government conducted “hundreds of meetings and negotiations” to secure the jets.

Ukrainian pilots began their training in the US in the fall, with “Moonfish” and others completing the program in just six months, despite a typical training duration of one year.

With inputs from agencies