Ukraine loses an F-16 pilot and his jet while fighting one of Russia’s biggest ever aerial attacks

WNN — 

A Ukrainian pilot was killed and his F-16 fighter jet crashed after Russia launched a huge aerial assault involving hundreds of drones and scores of missiles overnight, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday.

The airman, named as 1st Class Lt. Col. Maksym Ustymenko by the Ukrainian air force, was the third F-16 pilot killed since the Ukrainians began flying the jets last summer, and his plane was the fourth F-16 Ukraine has lost since then.

The air force said Ustymenko “did everything he could to steer the aircraft away from a populated area, but he did not have time to eject.”

Ustymenko’s death is a major loss for Ukraine. Only a small number of the country’s top pilots have been trained to fly F-16s, the most advanced of Ukraine’s fighter jets. The training is highly specialized and takes months to complete.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ustymenko destroyed seven targets before being killed, praising him and the Ukrainian air force for “heroically protecting” the country’s skies.

Zelensky said Moscow launched 477 drones and 60 missiles towards six different locations overnight into Sunday – one of Russia’s largest ever aerial assaults in terms of weapons deployed, according to a CNN tally.