The Ukrainian government said the crash occurred while its Air Force had been repelling a missile strike by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory. The fighter jet was reportedly not shot down but suffered disasters that caused it to crash. A special commission has been appointed to determine the causes of the accident.
This comes after the country recently received its first delivery of the 85 supplied F-16s from Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Norway. They were dispatched to assist in the defense of Ukrainian cities from the largest-ever Russian air raid, which involved drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles.
"During the repelling of a missile strike by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, together with units of anti-aircraft missile troops, F-16 fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were used. In the course of air combat, F-16 aircraft demonstrated their high effectiveness, with board weapons shot down four enemy-wing missiles," the general staff said. "During the event to the next target, contact was lost with one of the planes. As appeared later, the plane suffered disasters, the pilot died. A special commission of the MOU that works in the area of the plane crash has been appointed to determine the causes of the crash."
The number of Russian drones and missiles that Ukrainian troops destroyed on Monday increased to 201 thanks to the missiles that the F-16s shot down. However, a large number of Russian weapons managed to breach Ukraine's defenses, killing four people and seriously harming the nation's electrical infrastructure.
It appears that Mes was preparing his F-16 for a strike on approaching Russian missiles when the aircraft lost communication with ground-based radar operators, as per a report from Forbes. Rescuers located the crash site and verified Mes's death. The Ukrainian Air Force said, "He saved countless Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles, tragically at the cost of his own life."
Mes trained on the F-16 in Denmark for several months. He was one of the initial, few qualified pilots to appear in Ukraine, along with the initial batch of jets. Dozens of additional Ukrainian pilots are currently undergoing training in Romania and Arizona, and they are expected to return to Ukraine concurrently with the arrival of the additional aircraft.
