A top Ukrainian pilot was reportedly killed when an F-16 fighter jet crashed on Monday, just weeks after the long-awaited jets arrived in the country, according to WSJ and CNN.
The pilot, Oleksiy Mes, known as “Moonfish,” was killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack” by Russia, said the source to CNN. The crash is being investigated, and international experts will be invited to participate in the probe, the source told CNN.
Initial reports indicate that the jet wasn’t shot down but likely crashed due to pilot error.
Ukraine may have accidentally revealed the location of F-16 fighter jets in a recent video. The footage, intended as a tribute to a fallen pilot, appears to have “unintentionally” disclosed that these vaunted aircraft were stationed at the Kolomyia military airfield in the Ivano-Frankovsk region.
Earlier, Russian media and Telegram channels reported on August 26 that Russian forces conducted a strike on the Ukrainian airbase in Ivano-Frankivsk, which was believed to be housing F-16s.
Pro-Russian sources, including RIA Novosti, claimed that the attack targeted a hangar containing military equipment and that the explosion occurred in an area where the Ukrainian Armed Forces were allegedly sheltering two F-16 jets.
“Not only power facilities come under attack, as a hangar with recently supplied aircraft has been hit in Ivano-Frankovsk. Two F-16s were hidden there, according to underground resistance,” Sergey Lebedev from the pro-Russian underground resistance said via Telegram, Tass reported.
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