Ukraine loses its first F-16 fighter jet, General Staff confirms

Ukraine's first F-16 fighter jet have been destroyed in Ukraine on Monday, August 26, during Russia's massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine. 

On August 29, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially confirmed the loss of Ukraine's first F-16 fighter jet.

“During the air battle, the F-16s demonstrated their high efficiency, with four enemy cruise missiles being shot down by the onboard weapons.

During the approach to the next target, communication with one of the aircraft was lost. As it turned out later, the aircraft crashed, and the pilot died,” the statement said.

A special commission of the Defense Ministry has been appointed to investigate the causes of the crash and is working in the area where the aircraft crashed.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported this, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

According to the WSJ, an F-16 fighter jet was allegedly destroyed in a crash, a few weeks after the first American-made aircraft arrived in Ukraine.

The preliminary reports say that the aircraft was not shot down by enemy fire, although the incident occurred during a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine on Monday, the official said. He added that the crash was most likely caused by pilot error.

Meanwhile, CNN reports, referring to a Ukrainian Defense Forces source, that a top Ukrainian pilot was killed when a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet crashed on Monday. The Ukrainian Defense Forces do not believe pilot error was behind the incident, the source added.

The source said that the pilot, Oleksiy Mes known as “Moonfish,” was killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack” by Russia against Ukraine, adding that the pilot was buried on Thursday.

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian military, using F-16 fighter jets, shot down some Russian missiles during a massive attack on August 26.