Ukrainian F-16 pilot is killed in combat use

War in Ukraine

Ukrainian F-16 pilot is killed in combat use

Ukraine had to wait a long time for western F-16 type. Kyiv relies on her especially in air defense. But now there was a fatal incident.

According to official information, a Ukrainian fighter pilot was killed in an assignment with a western f-16 fighter jet. “Today was killed in a fight in an F-16 captain Pawlo Iwanow,” confirmed President Wolodymyr Selenskyj. The head of state expressed his condolences to the survivors of the 26-year-old and announced that they clarify the circumstances of death. Postally, Selenskyj Iwanow awarded the title “Held of Ukraine”.

Ukraine received the first of the long-demanded F-16 fight jets in the summer of 2024. The machines from US production were supplied by Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Later the Ukraine also received French Mirage aircraft. Kyiv uses the fighter jets primarily to defend Russian rocket and drone attacks.

Officially, there was no information on the fate of the F-16 itself. The Ukrainian service of the BBC reported in the evening, citing government sources that the aircraft had been shot down by Russian rockets over the Sumy area in the northeast of Ukraine. This would have lost Ukraine the second of the machines so valuable for Kyiv. After the loss of the first F-16 in summer, Selenskyj had released Air Force Chief Mykola Oleeschtschuk.