On August 26, pilot Oleksiy Mes died while repelling a massive Russian attack. During the air battle, he destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack UAV, reported The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Thursday.
“On August 29, his fellow pilots, commanders and subordinates, friends and colleagues, hundreds of ordinary Ukrainians came to say goodbye to him. A pair of MiG-29 fighter jets paid tribute to the fallen pilot. The flight over the procession was performed by Alexey’s comrades-in-arms. By order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lt. Col. Oleksiy Mesy was posthumously awarded the military rank of colonel,” the post reads.
The American television and radio company CNN, referring to a source in the Ukrainian military department, reportedthat Oleksiy Mes died while piloting an F-16 aircraft.
The CNN source added that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not believe that the cause of the incident was pilot error. The investigation of the disaster is ongoing, and international experts will be invited to participate in it.
Earlier, the American publication The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing a US official, wrote that the Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in a plane crash on Monday.
According to preliminary reports, the plane was not shot down by enemy fire, although the incident occurred during a massive missile attack by Russia on Monday, August 26, the official said. Most likely, the crash occurred as a result of pilot error, the article says.
Before that, President Zelenskyi said that Ukraine used fighter jets in combat for the first time to shoot down Russian missiles during a massive attack by Russia.
On the night of Monday, August 26, Russian troops launched a massive attack on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, in particular on the country’s fuel and energy sector. The Air Force noted that the Russian military launched 127 missiles and 109 attack UAVs over Ukraine. As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 201 air targets were shot down – 102 missiles and 99 attack UAVs.
The first F-16 fighters that arrived in Ukraine were shown during the Air Force Day celebrations on August 4.
On July 31, Bloomberg reported that the first long-awaited F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine. According to the agency’s own sources, it is a “small number”. The Times later wrotethat there are six planes, and they came from the Netherlands.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the Ukrainian authorities have asked the West to provide modern F-16 fighter jets. In 2023, several countries, with the consent of the United States, decided to transfer such planes to Kyiv.
