SUNDAY April 13, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
A Ukrainian pilot flying an F-16 Viper jet was killed during a combat mission on Saturday, Ukraine’s Air Force wrote on Telegram.
The military said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the death of 26-year-old Pavlo Ivanov, without providing further details.
Saturday’s loss is only the second confirmed F-16 loss that Ukraine has faced, delivering a symbolic blow to Kyiv’s forces. The F-16 aircraft are more advanced than the Soviet-era aircraft Ukraine’s forces had been using for much of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that began in February 2022. The aircrafts delivery from European allies was also hoped to change the battlefield calculus.
Ukraine’s Air Force did not reveal the location, or many details about the incident in its statement on Telegram, which started with “unfortunately, sad news.”
It said that Ivanov had been killed while in a combat mission on an F-16 aircraft and in expressing condolences said that he had died in battle “defending his native land from the occupiers,” according to a translation.
The statement went on to say that Ukraine’s F-16 pilots almost every day perform combat missions “in incredibly difficult conditions” providing cover for aviation strike groups and striking enemy targets.
It also said that pilots are working to the maximum of human and technical capabilities, risking their lives each time. “All the circumstances of the tragedy are being established by an interdepartmental commission,” Ukraine’s Air Force added.
