Trying every way to own F-16, Ukraine shot down a precious fighter"?

Recently, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted a US official as saying that a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in an accident on August 26.

Ukraine appears to have received only about 10 F-16s, but lost one in combat. (Source: X)

The official said it appeared the incident was not caused by enemy fire and was likely due to pilot error.

Meanwhile, on August 30, a Russian military website quoted a source saying that it was the Ukrainian air defense force that shot down the F-16 fighter due to a mistake.

Accordingly, the incident occurred because the pilot put the plane into a difficult-to-monitor mode, so the air defense system mistakenly identified it as an enemy cruise missile.

According to the source, the incident occurred in an unspecified area, but the pilot of the fighter jet was killed. To date, this is the first case of an F-16 fighter jet being shot down over Ukrainian territory.

Previously, Ms. Maryana Bezuglaya, Deputy Chairwoman of the Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, said that during the large-scale missile attack on August 26, a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was accidentally shot down by its own air defense forces using a Patriot air defense missile system.

The incident resulted in the death of pilot Alexei Mesy, who was flying the downed aircraft. According to Ms. Bezugla, the lack of coordination between the units involved in repelling the attack was the main factor leading to this tragic incident.

Late on August 29, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that an F-16 fighter jet crashed during an operation on August 26 to prevent an unprecedented Russian airstrike. According to the ministry, at that time, a number of F-16s and Ukrainian air defense systems were trying to counter Moscow's attack.

According to the ministry, Ukraine has set up a special commission to investigate the incident, which will include international experts. The investigation will consider several hypotheses, including pilot error, technical failure and accidental shooting.

On the US side, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense Sabrina Singh said that Washington could not confirm whether the incident was caused by a Patriot air defense system that was shot down by mistake. The US has also not received any request to participate in any investigation into this incident.

Western allies have pledged to deliver at least 79 F-16s to Ukraine, but so far Kiev appears to have received only about 10. The arrival of the F-16s marks a major milestone for Ukraine after months of waiting.

The loss of the first F-16 and its trained pilots so soon after entering combat could be a heavy blow to Ukraine, as Kiev has repeatedly called on its Western allies to provide modern long-range weapons while the number of pilots trained to operate these fighters remains limited.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tim-moi-cach-de-so-huu-f-16-ukraine-lai-tu-ban-roi-mot-tiem-kich-quy-284446.html