Ukraine’s F-16 warplanes and the Ukrainian air force: The loss of a Russian air plane is the first evidence of its response to Russia’s invasion

Military analysts have said their arrival won’t be a game-changer in the war, given Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air defense systems. But Ukrainian officials welcomed them as offering an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air superiority.

The crash was the first reported loss of an F-16 in Ukraine, where the warplanes arrived at the end of last month. Six are believed to have been delivered by European countries.

NATO members the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium have pledged to provide Ukraine with over 60 planes. That number is dwarfed by the Russian jet fighter fleet, which is around 10 times larger.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, said debris of destroyed drones fell in three districts of the city, causing minor damage to civilian infrastructure but no injuries.

The Russian military said Thursday it had thwarted an overnight attack on Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry says it destroyed three Ukrainian sea drones that were targeting the Black Sea peninsula.

There was a sick feeling that the pilots of Ukraine wouldn’t make it through the war according to Adam Kingzinger, who was once a congressman. They fought hard for Ukraine and the F16.

KYIV, Ukraine — One of the handful of F-16 warplanes that Ukraine has received from its Western partners to help fight Russia’s invasion has crashed, Ukraine’s Army General Staff said Thursday. The pilot did not survive.

In the meantime, Ukraine acknowledges its involvement in strikes on oil depots deep inside Russia, where blazes broke out.

UAV strikes in Sevastopol: Russia tries to stop terrorism and send the F-16s to Ukraine if it can get permission from the US president

The Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev added that four Ukrainian aerial drones and three sea drones were destroyed “at a significant distance” from the peninsula’s shore.

If our defense forces had the ability to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases, the strikes wouldn’t have happened. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian officials have recently become more vocal in their long-standing insistence that Western countries supporting their war effort should scrap restrictions on what Ukraine is allowed to target inside Russia with long-range weapons they have provided.

The maximum range for the F-16s is more than 2000 miles, and the aircraft can fly up to twice the speed of sound. They can also fire modern weapons used by NATO countries.

The warplanes to be sent toUkraine were granted permission by the U.S. president in August of 2023. A number of months of pressure came from the US administration, which feared the move could escalate tensions with the Kremlin.

Ukraine has until now been using Soviet-era warplanes, and its pilots underwent intense training on the F-16s in the West for months. The usual training period is three years.

Ukrainian air force commanders fired after a Russian bombardment of their western counterparts, killing six and wounding a child in Kharkiv

Oleshchuk hoped she would be held to account for defaming the air force and damaging U.S. arms manufacturers.

Meanwhile, a Russian attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv using powerful plane-launched glide bombs killed six people, including a 14-year-old girl on a playground, and wounded 47 others, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

One of the bombs hit a 12-story apartment block, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor. Emergency crews searching for survivors feared the structure could collapse.

In other developments, Ukrainian rockets hit the Russian city of Belgorod and its surroundings on late Friday, killing five people and injuring 37, said regional govenor Vyacheslav Gladkov. The region borders northern Ukraine and comes under attacks almost daily.

“We must carefully understand what happened, what the circumstances are, and whose responsibility it is,” Oleshchuk wrote in the post shortly before his dismissal.

The Russian army is making slow progress in its drive into eastern Ukraine, while the Ukrainians are holding their ground in the western part of Russia.

“Today the ministers agreed to raising the target to 75,000, adding 15,000 more by the end of the year,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after the meeting.

“The training has to be shortened and adapted to the Ukrainian training needs,” Borrell said. He added that the EU would set up a small “coordination and liaison cell” in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to make the training effort more effective.

On the same day, Oleshchuk lashed out at a lawmaker who claimed that the F-16 was shot down by an air defense system. The number of systems that Ukraine has received is not known.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the commander of the country’s air force Friday, four days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners crashed during a Russian bombardment and killed the pilot.