Ukrainian F-16 pilot, 26, killed in action

Pavlo Ivanov, a Ukrainian Air Force F-16 fighter jet pilot, was killed in action on Saturday 12 April.

Source: Ukraine's Air Force

Details: An interdepartmental commission has begun work to establish all the circumstances of the tragedy.

The Air Force has provided no details concerning Ivanov's death. 

Updated: Initially, Ukraine's Air Force reported that Ivanov was 21. However, the message was later corrected to state that he was 26.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commented on the pilot's death.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "We need reports from the military on this combat situation. We are investigating all the circumstances."

Read also: Plane-spotting in the weeds, unwanted fame, and the Ghost of Kyiv made out of Lego. Andrii Pilshchykov's mother tells the story of her son's life

Background:

• On 26 August 2023, it became known that a well-known pilot, Andrii Pilshchykov, who went by the alias Juice, and two other pilots were killed in a collision between two Ukrainian aircraft on the evening of 25 August in Zhytomyr Oblast. The Vasylkiv-based Tactical Aviation Brigade reported that Viacheslav Minka and Serhii Prokazin were also killed in the crash.
• The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that an F-16 fighter jet crashed in Ukraine on 26 August 2024.
• Later, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that on that date, pilot Oleksii Mes had been killed while repelling a large-scale Russian combined missile and airstrike.
• On 14 February, The Wall Street Journal posted a column speculating that the crash of the F-16 had been caused by friendly fire from a Patriot air defence missile system, though Ukraine has not officially confirmed this.

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