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The Wall Street Journal reported that the first Ukrainian F-16 aircraft crashed a few weeks after it came to Ukraine. According to the claims by an American official cited by the newspaper, the aircraft was destroyed as a result of the crash which took place on August 26.
According preliminary reports, the aircraft was not shot down by Russian fire, but it was destroyed during the massive Russian night attack on Ukrainian military and industrial facilities throughout the country. LINK
“Apparently, the crash was due to pilot error,” writes the WSJ.
The Ukrainian Air Force is hiding the fact and did not report the crash. However, the loss was not easy to hide.
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On August 28, Ukrainian officials revealed the death of one of Ukrainian pilots trained abroad to fly foreign F-16. Deputy of the Lutsk City Council confirmed that pilot Aleksey Mes died on August 26. Apparently, his death is linked to the reported crash.
UPDATE: It is better late than never. After the reports about the loss of F-16 gained the headlines, Kyiv was forced to acknowledge it. Both the Air Force Command and the General Staff of Ukraine reported the death of the pilot Mes. Almost a week after he died and the F-16 was destroyed.
According to the Air Force Command, the pilot died on August 26, when he was repelling strikes of Russian drones and missiles. He allegedly destroyed three cruise missiles and a kamikaze UAV; but died. The General Staff reported that the communication with one of F-16 was lost; the aircraft crashed; the pilot died.
The Ukrainian military has not provided any details about the incident, leaving room for suspicion as to exactly how the plane was destroyed. Thus, F-16 could also be mistakenly destroyed by Ukrainian air defense or it could collide with one of its targets. There is also the chance that the aircraft could be destroyed by a precision strikes of Russian missiles on the ground or during the take off.
The first F-16 fighters arrived in Ukraine on July 31. The Economist reported that there were ten aircraft in the first batch. By the end of the year, Ukrainian forces should receive 20 fighters, 79 in total.
The MSM and Ukrainian propaganda are trying their best to glorify NATO gifts to support the myth of all-mighty Western weapons. Today, F-16 are their last chance to justify NATO military supplies to the war-torn Ukraine. As a result, the deployment of precious aircraft is covered by fakes and lies.
Earlier, Zelensky proudly declared that F-16 were involved to repel Russian attack on August 26, but the results of the strikes and damage caused to Ukrainian infrastructure across the country proved the aircraft did not help the depleted air defense. LINK
It is possible that new reports about the crash are fake aimed to hide the truth. Right before Russian attack, the footage shared by Ukrainian military officials revealed the airfield in Western Ukraine, where the Air Force of Ukraine was hiding the fighters. LINK It should not be excluded that Russian precision strikes could reach the airfield and destroy the first Western aircraft.
On the other hand, if the reports are true, the loss of one of the few NATO aircraft as a result of an error reveals the pore training incompetence of Ukrainian pilots.
F-16 fighters cannot change the balance of power in the war. They only prolong Ukraine’s agony, but NATO warmongers do not stop adding fuel to the fire. The Dutch Air Force Command declared that Amsterdam does not limit the use of F–16 fighters transferred to Ukraine in the space above the Russian Federation.
