Zelensky on F-16 crash: details will be known after investigation
Kyiv • UNN
September 5 2024, 12:52 PM • 17241 views
President Zelenskyy said that the details of the F-16 crash will be known after the investigation is completed. He also emphasized
the insufficient number of these fighters in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he could not give details about the F-16 fighter jet crash until the investigation is completed. He said this in an interview with NBC News, according to a correspondent of UNN.
I cannot go into details about this in accordance with our legislation. We need to finish our investigation and then we will disclose this information to our partners, what caused it,
In addition, the President emphasized that Ukraine does not have enough F-16s.
We don't have enough F-16s. Again, this applies to all the other packages that we talked about... The problem is that we have a positive solution, but we don't have enough F-16s, and that's the problem,
On August 29, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces officially confirmed the loss of an F-16 fighter jet and the death of a pilot while repelling a Russian missile attack. The plane shot down 4 cruise missiles but crashed while approaching the next target.
The General Staff added that a special commission of the Ministry of Defense has been appointed to investigate the causes of the crash, which is working in the area of the plane's crash.
As UNN reported , Ukrainian pilot Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes was killed in the crash of an F-16 fighter jet on Monday, August 26. The Air Command "West" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the pilot was killed while repelling a Russian massive combined missile and air strike and destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack UAV.
Recall
Ukraine receives the first batch of F-16 fighter jets from NATO allies.
In August 2023, Zelenskyy reportedthat it had been agreed with the Netherlands to provide Ukraine with 42 F-16s, and with Denmark with 19.
In May 2024, Forbes reportedthat Zelenskyy said Belgium would provide 30 F-16s, bringing to 85 the total number of fighter jets Ukraine is to receive.