There has been no official explanation of what caused one of the U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets recently delivered to Ukraine to crash Monday during a massive Russian missile-and-drone attack, killing the pilot. The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine announced Thursday that a special commission had been set up to investigate the crash.
Still, the incident sparked recriminations between a member of Ukraine’s parliament, Mariana Bezuhla, and the commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, with Bezuhla claiming the F-16 was brought down by friendly fire and denouncing a “culture of lies in the Air Force command.”
In response, Oleshchuk called her “a tool to discredit” Ukraine’s military leadership.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed in Friday, when he removed Oleshchuk as air force commander.
"I have decided to replace the commander of the Air Forces. ... I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots," he said in his evening address without providing a reason for his decision.
Zelenskyy announced on August 4 that the first of 80 F-16s promised by Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway had arrived in Ukraine. While he didn’t say how many had been delivered, The Wall Street Journal on Thursday cited an unnamed U.S. official as saying that six F-16s had arrived and that Ukraine had six pilots trained to fly them.
In announcing the investigation into the F-16 crash, Ukraine’s general staff said that F-16s “were used together with units of the anti-aircraft missile forces” to repulse the large-scale August 26 Russian drone-and-missile attack, which “demonstrated their high efficiency, and four enemy cruise missiles were shot down by airborne weapons.” It added that “[w]hile approaching the next target... the jet crashed, the pilot died."
For its part, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday that the dead pilot, Colonel Alexei “Moonfish” Mes, “had destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack UAV [drone] while repelling a massive Russian combined air-and-missile strike,” adding that he “saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles ... at the cost of his own life.”
The Journal and CNN had initially reported, citing Ukrainian Air Force sources, that the F-16 likely crashed because of “pilot error,” but retracted the “pilot error” theory in subsequent updates.
In her Thursday Facebook post, Bezuhla wrote that Mes’ F-16 “was shot down by a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to discoordination between units. … The incident occurred during one of the most powerful Russian air attacks on August 26. War is war, such episodes are possible.”
She continued: “But the culture of lies in the Air Force command … as in other higher military headquarters, leads to the fact that the management system of military decisions does not improve on the basis of truthful, consistently collected analytics, but worsens and even collapses. … And none of the generals were punished. [Lieutenant] General Oleshchuk remains in office.”
Responding to Bezuhla, Oleshchuk insisted the official investigation would determine what brought down the F-16, adding in a Telegram post: “Information about such incidents cannot be immediately released into the public space and cannot be detailed for the media. [THERE IS A] WAR IN THE COUNTRY! But it doesn't matter to the people who chose Maryana Bezuhla as a tool to discredit the top military leadership. … Maryana, the time will come when you will apologize to the entire army for what you have done, I hope in court!
“Once again, you not only poured dirt on me personally and on the Air Force, you discredited the manufacturers of American weapons — the main ally of Ukraine — the USA! You have again become the main newsmaker of enemy propaganda and are breaking all records on Russian television! All of Russia applauds you!”
Zelenskyy’s order removing Oleshchuk as Air Force chief came a day later.
A Ukrainian Air Force official, on the condition of anonymity, told VOA’s Ukrainian Service that "various versions are being considered, including the ‘friendly fire’ of their air defense systems, a technical malfunction and pilot error. But the exact reasons will be known only after the investigation is completed."
Mes traveled with fellow pilot, Andrii “Juice” Pilshchykov, a college classmate and lifelong friend, to Washington, D.C., in 2022, where they met with U.S. lawmakers to try to persuade Western allies to allow the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine.
Pilshchykov died in a training accident in August 2023, a year before the death of his fellow pilot.
Adam Kinzinger, a former U.S. congressman from Illinois and retired U.S. Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, shared his recollections of meeting the two Ukrainian pilots on Capitol Hill.
“I feel like you could have taken Juice or Moonfish, put them in an American squadron, and they would blend in immediately, because of the personality, the commitment, the dedication. They were obviously fantastic fighter pilots,” Kinzinger told VOA.
He added, “Ukraine would not have F-16s today if it wasn't for their tireless advocacy. And you know, like we say, when anybody falls in war, you die twice. You could die when you actually die, and then when you're forgotten. And I think Moonfish and Juice will never be forgotten.”
