Kiev, Ukraine CNN —
A US-made F-16 fighter jet crashed on Monday, killing Ukraine’s top pilot, a Ukrainian military source told CNN, just weeks after the highly anticipated aircraft arrived in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Defense Forces do not believe that pilot error was the cause of the accident, the source added.
Pilot Oleksiy Mess, nicknamed “Moonfish”, died in the crash while “fighting off the largest ever air raid” by Russia against Ukraine, the source said, adding that the pilot was buried on Thursday.
The crash is currently under investigation and international experts will be invited to take part in the investigation, the official added.
The pilot’s death is a major blow to Ukraine: its first F-16s only arrived in the country earlier this month, and Moonfish was one of the few pilots trained to fly them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian Air Force used F-16s to destroy missiles and drones fired by Russia on Monday, the first time a Ukrainian official has acknowledged that F-16 fighter jets have been used in combat.
Kiev has been slow to acquire F-16 fighter jets, and President Zelensky has been calling on Western allies to provide them since the start of the full-scale invasion.
But as with other equipment, Western countries balked before finally agreeing to provide the F-16s: the Netherlands and Denmark committed to providing them in early summer 2023, but it took several more weeks for the United States to approve the transfer.
When the plane arrived earlier this summer, President Zelenskiy said he and his government held “hundreds of meetings and negotiations” to ensure the plane’s safety.
A group of Ukrainian pilots began F-16 training in the United States in the fall. It takes years to become fully trained to fly the plane, but Moonfish and his team had just six months to do it.
Ukraine hopes that the F-16s will give the country a much-needed boost. The jets are versatile: they can provide aerial coverage for troops, strike ground targets, attack enemy aircraft, and intercept missiles. With the right armament, the F-16s could block Russian fighter-bombers from approaching the battlefield.
Still, the fighter jet is no panacea: Ukraine could use it to thwart Russian air superiority, but experts say it is not as capable as Russia’s newest fighters, which would have a better chance of winning an aerial battle with an F-16.
Moonfish and another pilot, Andriy Pilshchikov, known by the callsign “Juice,” have become the faces of Ukraine’s F-16 acquisition campaign.
It was an uphill battle, but Juice and Moonfish pulled together and got through it: They were young, enthusiastic, spoke good English, and were willing to fight to get U.S. jets into Ukrainian skies.
It was their dream to fly an F-16, and when Juice died in a plane crash during a combat mission last August, Moonfish made it their goal to make that happen.
Of the two, Moonfish was the quieter one, a publicity-shy aviation buff, but when Juice died, Moonfish had to step in. In a rare interview with CNN, he admitted that he would have been interviewed if Juice had been alive.
He was quiet, passionate about his work, in control of his emotions, and a straight talker who knew everything about the F-16.
“Andree was the ‘ideas man’ and the driving force behind it all,” Moonfish said, “and I feel a responsibility to him to make sure these planes get there.”
Speaking to CNN during the training, he said he and other Ukrainian pilots had had to undergo an abbreviated version of their training. “In peacetime we would have had plenty of time to fully study the jet, but now we don’t have that time,” he said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement late Thursday that Moonfish shot down three cruise missiles and an attack drone on Monday before dying in the crash. The air force said Moonfish had been posthumously awarded the rank of colonel.
