Ukrainian president fires air force commander after fatal F-16 crash

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.

The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website.

“We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers,” Zelenskyy said in an address minutes after the order was published. He said Ukraine needs to strengthen its army on the command level.

Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed acting air force commander, the army's general staff said.

The dismissal came on the same day that Oleshchuk directed scathing criticism at a lawmaker who is deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s defense committee for her claims that the F-16 was downed by a Patriot air-defense system. Ukraine has received an unspecified number of the U.S.-made systems.

Mariana Bezuhla cited unnamed sources for her claim and demanded punishment for those responsible for the error.

Oleshchuk accused Bezuhla of defaming the air force and discrediting U.S. arms manufacturers and said that he hoped she would face legal consequences for her claims.

“The truth will win,” Bezuhla posted on X shortly after the dismissal order was published.

The air force did not directly deny that the F-16 was hit by a Patriot missile.

U.S. experts have joined the Ukrainian investigation into the crash, the air force said.

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.

The bombs struck five locations across the city, which had a prewar population of 1.4 million people, the governor 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 ans comes under drone or artillery attacks almost daily.

Zelenskyy pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.

The Kharkiv strike “wouldn’t have happened if our defense forces had the capability to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy said.

F-16s are one of the weapons that could be used to hit Russian bases behind the front line.

Oleshchuk said on Telegram that “a detailed analysis" was already being conducted into why the F-16 jet went down Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine.

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

Military analysts say the planes will not be a game-changer in the war , given Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air-defense systems. But Ukrainian officials welcomed the supersonic jets, which can carry modern weapons used by NATO countries, for offering an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air superiority.

On the ground, the Russian army is making slow but gradual progress in its drive into eastern Ukraine , while Ukrainian force s are holding ground in the Kursk border region of western Russia after a recent incursion.

The Institute for the Study of War said it expected that Ukraine would lose some Western-provided military equipment in the fighting.

But the Washington-based think tank added that “any loss among Ukraine’s already limited allotment" of F-16s and trained pilots “will have an outsized impact” on the country's ability to operate F-16s "as part of its combined air defense umbrella or in an air-to-ground support role.”

In other developments, European Union defense ministers agreed in Brussels to boost their training program for Ukrainian troops.

“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.

So far, 60,000 troops have passed through the bloc’s training scheme, which is conducted outside Ukraine.

Associated Press Writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

乌克兰基辅——乌克兰总统泽连斯基周五解雇了该国空军司令。此前四天，一架乌克兰从西方伙伴那里获得的F-16战机在俄罗斯的轰炸中坠毁，飞行员丧生。

解除米科拉·奥列舒克中将职务的命令已在总统网站上公布。

“我们需要保护人民，保护人员，照顾好我们所有的士兵，”泽连斯基在命令发布几分钟后发表讲话时说道。他还表示，乌克兰需要加强军队的指挥能力。

陆军总参谋部表示，阿纳托利·克里沃诺日科中将已被任命为空军​​代理司令。

就在奥列舒克严厉批评乌克兰议会国防委员会副主席、声称F-16战机是被“爱国者”防空系统击落的那一天，他被解职了。乌克兰已接收了数量不详的美国制造的“爱国者”防空系统。

玛丽安娜·贝祖拉引用了未具名的消息来源来支持她的说法，并要求惩罚那些对错误负有责任的人。

奥列什丘克指责贝祖拉诽谤空军，诋毁美国武器制造商，并表示希望她能为自己的言论承担法律后果。

“真相终将胜利，”贝祖拉在驳回令公布后不久在 X 上发帖说道。

空军并未直接否认F-16战机是被爱国者导弹击中的。

美国空军表示，美国专家已加入乌克兰对坠机事件的调查。

与此同时，哈尔科夫地区州长奥列格·西涅胡博夫表示，俄罗斯使用威力强大的飞机发射滑翔炸弹袭击了东北部城市哈尔科夫，造成6人死亡，其中包括一名在游乐场的14岁女孩，另有47人受伤。

州长表示，炸弹袭击了该市五个地点，战前该市人口为 140 万。

其中一枚炸弹击中了一栋12层高的公寓楼，引发火灾，至少有一人被困在高层。搜救人员担心大楼会坍塌。

另据报道，乌克兰火箭弹于周五晚间袭击了俄罗斯别尔哥罗德市及其周边地区，造成5人死亡，37人受伤。别尔哥罗德地区州长维亚切斯拉夫·格拉德科夫表示，该地区与乌克兰北部接壤，几乎每天都遭受无人机或炮击。

泽连斯基指出，哈尔科夫空袭进一步证明，西方伙伴应该取消对乌克兰军队使用捐赠武器打击目标的限制。

泽连斯基表示：“如果我们的国防部队有能力摧毁俄罗斯基地内的军用飞机，哈尔科夫空袭就不会发生。我们需要我们的伙伴做出强有力的决定来制止这种恐怖主义行径。”

F-16战斗机是可以用来打击前线后方俄罗斯基地的武器之一。

奥列舒克在 Telegram 上表示，目前正在对周一俄罗斯向乌克兰发动大规模导弹和无人机袭击时，F-16 战机坠毁的原因进行“详细分析”。

“我们必须仔细了解发生了什么事，情况如何，以及谁应该为此负责，”奥列舒克在被解雇前不久的帖子中写道。

这是乌克兰境内首次有报道称F-16战机坠毁，这些战机于上月底抵达乌克兰。据信至少有六架F-16战机是由欧洲国家交付的。

军事分析人士认为，鉴于俄罗斯庞大的空军和先进的防空系统，这些战机不会改变战争的走向。但乌克兰官员对这些能够携带北约国家使用的现代化武器的超音速战机表示欢迎，认为这为乌克兰提供了一个反击俄罗斯空中优势的机会。

在地面上，俄罗斯军队正缓慢但稳步地向乌克兰东部推进，而乌克兰军队在最近的一次入侵后，在俄罗斯西部的库尔斯克边境地区坚守阵地。

战争研究所表示，预计乌克兰将在战斗中损失一些西方提供的军事装备。

但这家总部位于华盛顿的智库补充说，“乌克兰本已有限的 F-16 战机和训练有素的飞行员配额中的任何损失，都将对该国操作 F-16 战机的能力产生巨大影响”，使其“无法将其作为联合防空体系的一部分，也无法将其用于空对地支援任务”。

另据报道，欧盟国防部长在布鲁塞尔达成一致，将加强对乌克兰军队的训练计划。

欧盟外交政策负责人何塞普·博雷尔在会后告诉记者：“今天，部长们同意将目标提高到75000人，到今年年底再增加15000人。”

博雷尔表示：“培训必须缩短时间，并根据乌克兰的培训需求进行调整。”他还补充说，欧盟将在乌克兰首都基辅设立一个小型“协调联络小组”，以提高培训效率。

到目前为止，已有 6 万名士兵参加了该集团在乌克兰境外开展的训练计划。

美联社驻布鲁塞尔记者洛恩·库克对本报道亦有贡献。