Ukrainian pilot killed in F-16 crash

KYIV — Ukraine lost the first of its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets during Monday’s massive missile and drone attack by Russia, killing the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes, one of the country’s first to be qualified to fly the advanced fighters.
“During the aerial battle, the F-16 aircraft demonstrated their high efficiency, four enemy cruise missiles were shot down by airborne weapons,” the Ukrainian army general staff said in a statement Thursday. “During the approach to the next target, contact with one of the aircraft was lost. As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot died.”
The air force also issued a memorial statement on Thursday on Mes, who used the callsign Moonfish.
“He heroically fought his last battle in the sky. Oleksiy destroyed three cruise missiles and one kamikaze drone, while repelling a massive Russian combined air and missile attack. Oleksiy saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles. Unfortunately, at the cost of his own life,” the air force command said.
Russia fired more than 127 missiles and 100 drones at Ukraine on Monday, targeting mostly critical energy infrastructure, including a dam in the Kyiv region.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the loss of the F-16, citing an anonymous U.S. official. The first fighters only arrived in Ukraine this month after years of pressure from Kyiv on its allies.
Mes was one of the most vocal pilots calling for Ukraine to be given F-16s. Together with another pilot, Andriy “Juice” Pilshchykov, who was killed in a crash in August 2023, Mes traveled to the U.S. to lobby for better jets to protect Ukraine.
“Oleksiy was an exemplary pilot. Always an excellent student, always the first, always the best,” Tetiana Shevchuk, a friend of both pilots, wrote on Facebook. “He was the first Ukrainian pilot to sit at the controls of an F-16 and the first to fly combat missions.”