Ukraine F-16 jet crashes during Russian attack, killing pilot

KYIV, Ukraine — One of the handful of F-16 warplanes that Ukraine has received from its Western partners to help fight Russia’s invasion has crashed, Ukraine’s Army General Staff said Thursday. The pilot died.

The fighter jet went down Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine, a military statement posted on Facebook said. Four of those Russian missiles were shot down by F-16s, the statement said.

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

The Defense Ministry has opened an investigation into the crash.

Earlier Thursday, Russia conducted a heavy aerial attack on Ukraine for the third time in four days, again launching missiles and scores of drones that mostly were intercepted, Ukraine’s air force said.

Russian forces fired five missiles and 74 Shahed drones at Ukrainian targets, an air force statement said. Air defenses stopped two missiles and 60 drones, and 14 other drones presumably fell before reaching their target, it said.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, said debris of destroyed drones fell in three districts of the city, causing minor damage to civilian infrastructure but no injuries.

Russia’s relentless and unnerving long-range strikes on civilian areas have been a feature of the war since it invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

Belgium, Denmark the Netherlands and Norway — all NATO members — have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of the planes. That number is dwarfed by the Russian jet fighter fleet, which is around 10 times larger.

Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralize Russian air power, Kyiv officials say.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press at the end of last month that the first of a batch of F-16s promised by European countries had arrived in Ukraine.

Military analysts have said their arrival won’t be a game-changer in the war, given Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air defense systems. But Ukrainian officials welcomed them as offering an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air superiority.

Ukraine has until now been using Soviet-era warplanes, and its pilots underwent intense training on the F-16s in the West for months. The usual training period is three years.

U.S. President Joe Biden granted authorization in August 2023 for the U.S.-built warplanes to be sent to Ukraine. That came after months of pressure from Kyiv and internal debate in the U.S. administration where officials feared the move could escalate tensions with the Kremlin.

The F-16s can fly up to twice the speed of sound and have a maximum range of more than 2,000 miles. They can also fire modern weapons used by NATO countries.

Ukrainian officials have recently become more vocal in their long-standing insistence that Western countries supporting their war effort should scrap restrictions on what Ukraine is allowed to target inside Russia with long-range weapons they have provided.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his pleas for Western allies to untie his hands in deciding what to strike on Russian soil.

“All our partners should be more active — much more active — in countering Russian terror,” Zelenskyy said late Wednesday. “We continue to insist that their determination now — lifting the restrictions on long-range strikes for Ukraine now — will help us to end the war as soon as possible in a fair way for Ukraine and the world as a whole.”

The European Union’s top diplomat on Thursday backed Zelenskyy’s push for international backers to end their limits.

Ukraine has deployed domestically produced drones to strike Russia.

The Russian military said Thursday it had thwarted an overnight attack on Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed three Ukrainian sea drones aimed at the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev added that four Ukrainian aerial drones and three sea drones were destroyed “at a significant distance” from the peninsula’s shore.

In the meantime, Ukraine’s Army General Staff acknowledged Thursday Ukraine’s involvement in strikes this week on oil depots deep inside Russia, where blazes broke out.

The attacks in the Rostov and Kirov regions were part of Ukraine’s effort to disrupt logistical infrastructure supporting Russia’s war machine.

乌克兰基辅——乌克兰陆军总参谋部周四表示，乌克兰从西方伙伴国接收的用于对抗俄罗斯入侵的少量F-16战斗机中，有一架坠毁，飞行员遇难。

乌克兰军方在脸书上发表声明称，周一，俄罗斯对乌克兰发动大规模导弹和无人机袭击，一架战斗机在袭击中被击落。声明还称，其中四枚俄罗斯导弹被F-16战斗机击落。

这是F-16战机在乌克兰境内首次被报道的坠毁事故。这些战机于上月底抵达乌克兰，据信至少有六架。

国防部已对这起坠机事件展开调查。

乌克兰空军称，周四早些时候，俄罗斯对乌克兰发动了四天内的第三次大规模空袭，再次发射导弹和数十架无人机，但大部分都被拦截了。

俄罗斯空军发表声明称，俄军向乌克兰目标发射了5枚导弹和74架“沙赫德”无人机。声明还称，防空系统拦截了2枚导弹和60架无人机，另有14架无人机据推测在到达目标前坠毁。

首都基辅当局表示，被摧毁的无人机的碎片散落在该市的三个区，对民用基础设施造成了轻微损坏，但没有人员伤亡。

自 2022 年 2 月俄罗斯入侵邻国以来，俄罗斯对平民区进行无情且令人不安的远程打击一直是这场战争的特点。

比利时、丹麦、荷兰和挪威——均为北约成员国——已承诺向乌克兰提供60多架战机。但与俄罗斯的喷气式战斗机机队相比，这个数字相形见绌，俄罗斯的战机数量大约是其十倍。

基辅官员表示，乌克兰至少需要130架F-16战斗机才能抵消俄罗斯的空中力量。

美国官员上月底告诉美联社，欧洲国家承诺提供的首批 F-16 战斗机已经抵达乌克兰。

军事分析人士表示，鉴于俄罗斯庞大的空军和先进的防空系统，他们的到来不会改变战争的走向。但乌克兰官员对他们表示欢迎，认为这为他们提供了反击俄罗斯空中优势的机会。

乌克兰此前一直使用苏联时代的战机，其飞行员在西方接受了数月的F-16战机强化训练。通常情况下，训练周期为三年。

美国总统乔·拜登于2023年8月批准向乌克兰运送美国制造的战机。此前，基辅方面施加了数月的压力，美国政府内部也进行了辩论，官员们担心此举可能会加剧与克里姆林宫的紧张关系。

F-16战斗机的飞行速度可达两倍音速，最大航程超过2000英里。它们还可以发射北约国家使用的现代化武器。

乌克兰官员最近更加公开地重申了他们长期以来的坚持，即支持乌克兰战争的西方国家应该取消对乌克兰使用其提供的远程武器打击俄罗斯境内目标的限制。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基再次呼吁西方盟友放手，让他能够自主决定对俄罗斯领土发动哪些打击。

泽连斯基周三晚间表示：“我们所有的合作伙伴都应该更加积极主动地打击俄罗斯恐怖主义。我们继续坚持认为，他们现在的决心——立即解除对乌克兰远程打击的限制——将有助于我们尽快以对乌克兰和整个世界都公平的方式结束这场战争。”

欧盟最高外交官周四支持泽连斯基敦促国际支持者取消限制。

乌克兰已部署国产无人机打击俄罗斯。

俄罗斯军方周四表示，挫败了一起针对克里米亚的夜间袭击。俄罗斯国防部称，其部队摧毁了三架乌克兰海上无人机，这些无人机的目标是莫斯科于2014年从乌克兰吞并的黑海半岛克里米亚。

俄罗斯任命的塞瓦斯托波尔省长米哈伊尔·拉兹沃扎耶夫补充说，四架乌克兰空中无人机和三架海上无人机在距离半岛海岸“相当远的距离”被摧毁。

与此同时，乌克兰陆军总参谋部周四承认，乌克兰参与了本周对俄罗斯境内深处石油仓库的袭击，这些仓库发生了火灾。

罗斯托夫和基洛夫地区的袭击是乌克兰破坏俄罗斯战争机器后勤基础设施行动的一部分。