Volodymyr Zelensky sacks air force commander after Western-supplied F-16 crashes

kyiv received the first F-16 aircraft from its Western allies in early August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the dismissal of Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on Friday, August 30, a day after news of the crash of a U.S.-designed F-16 jet delivered to kyiv. Zelensky did not explain the reasons for the decision.

However, it comes just after the loss of this precious aircraft, recently delivered by the West. kyiv had been asking for F-16s for two years, and announced in August that it had received the first promised aircraft.

According to the Ukrainian military, the crash occurred during a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Monday, and claimed the life of the pilot of the plane, who had been trained in the United States. The F-16s helped shoot down four Russian cruise missiles in the attack, but “During the approach to the next target, communication with one of the aircraft was lost”the Ukrainian General Staff claims.

Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezoulha, a member of the parliament’s defence committee, claims that the F-16 was mistakenly shot down by a Patriot anti-aircraft system, “due to poor coordination between units”. She also assures that it is “at least the third time” that a Ukrainian plane was mistakenly shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. “The two previous incidents, which did not involve F-16s, were officially blamed on the Russians.”she accused.

Before his dismissal, Mykola Oleshchuk had promised to “discover the causes of the air disaster” with the F-16, ensuring “hide nothing”. He accused Mariana Bezoulha of wanting “discrediting senior military officials” and the United States, designers of the F-16s and Patriot systems supplied to kyiv.