One of the F-16 fighter jets sent from Nato allies to Ukraine has been destroyed, a Ukrainian military source .
The aircraft went down amid a barrage of Russian missiles on Monday, killing pilot Oleksiy Mes, Ukraine’s military said. It marks the first loss of its kind since the planes were delivered earlier this month.
The cause of the crash was not a direct result of an enemy missile strike, the Ukrainian military claims.
It said the pilot destroyed three cruise missiles and one drone in Russia’s largest aerial attack to date.
“Oleksiy saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles,” the Ukrainian Air Force wrote in a statement on social media.
“Unfortunately, at the cost of his own life.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky officially confirmed on Tuesday the US-made F-16’s were being deployed to shoot down Russian drones and missiles.
This week, he asked allies to allow Ukraine to use long range missiles to hit targets further into Russia.
