Ukrainian F-16 crashes, killing pilot, during Russian missile attack

A Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet crashed, killing its pilot, as it was fending off a barrage of Russian missiles, Ukraine’s military said Thursday.

During the operation, communication was lost with one of the jets and it later became apparent that “the plane crashed” and “the pilot died,” Ukraine’s general staff said in a Telegram post. A special commission was appointed to probe the cause of the accident, it said. Four Russian cruise missiles were shot down by the F-16, the military said.

The Ukrainian statement about the crash did not name the pilot who was killed. A separate statement published earlier Thursday by the Ukrainian air defense on Facebook announced the death of pilot Oleksiy Mes during an operation on Monday.

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