On August 29, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially confirmed the loss of the first F-16 fighter jet by Ukraine.
This is stated in the notification of the General Staff.
"During the approach to the next target, communication with one of the planes was lost. As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot died," the message reads.
A special commission of the Ministry of Defense has been appointed to find out the causes of the accident, which works in the area where the plane fell.
What preceded
On August 26, The Wall Street Journal reported on Ukraineʼs loss of the first F-16 fighter jet, citing sources. The media writes that the plane was not shot down by Russia, although the incident occurred during massive Russian missile attacks on August 26. Most likely, the crash occurred as a result of "pilot error."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously announced that Ukraine used F-16 to repel an attack on August 26.
The Air Command "West" of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine later reported that pilot Oleksiy Mes died on August 26. He destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack UAV while repelling the Russian strike. The mayor of Lutsk, Ihor Polishchuk, reported on his death a few days earlier, but later deleted this information, although it remained in the news of the Volyn media.
CNN writes that it was Mes who piloted the F-16 fighter jet that crashed. However, unlike the WSJ, CNNʼs sources in the ZSU do not believe that pilot error was the cause of the incident.