Ukraine’s loss of one of the F-16 fighter jets delivered to it has led to a high-profile resignation and a command investigation
The crash of an F-16 fighter jet delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces as part of the first batch has led to a high-profile resignation in the country’s military leadership. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has removed Air Force Commander Nikolai Oleshchuk from his post. And although Defense Minister Rustem Umerov claims that the resignation took place as part of a “rotation,” few have any doubts about its true background. Meanwhile, despite U.S. assistance in the investigation of the incident and a number of versions – from “friendly fire” to a technical malfunction – the reasons for the downing of the F-16 have yet to be established. The Western media called the loss of the fighter jet a “blow to the backside” for Kiev.
One of the F-16 fighter jets transferred to Ukraine by Western partners crashed on Monday, August 26, but the military and political consequences of this incident became apparent only a few days later. Thus, on August 30, Vladimir Zelensky by his decree dismissed the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force Nikolai Oleshchuk, who had held this position since August 2021. The reasons for this decision were not specified in the decree.
However, in his traditional daily address to the nation, Mr. Zelensky said, among other things:
“Now is the time for conclusions. I have decided to replace the commander of the air force of the armed forces of Ukraine… We must… take care of people, take care of personnel, take care of all our soldiers.” The Ukrainian leader did not directly link the dismissal of the general and the loss of the F-16, but given all the circumstances of the incident, the hint was quite clear.
The fact is that as a result of the fall of the fighter jet a pilot – Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Mes, whom the Ukrainian media call one of the best and valuable personnel of the country’s air forces, was killed.
At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Rustem Umerov in an interview with the American TV channel CNN, commenting on the loss of the F-16, the death of the pilot and the resignation of Nikolai Oleshchuk, said,
“I would probably say that this is a rotation. These are two separate issues. I would not link them at this stage.”
Mr. Oleshchuk himself apparently did link his dismissal to the incident and probably considered the resignation undeserved. In his Telegram channel, after news of his resignation, the former commander wrote:
“No matter how hard it is for us, we will certainly not be ashamed,” Valery Zaluzhny wrote. The quotation of the former commander-in-chief of the AFU, who had earlier been dismissed by Mr. Zelensky as a result of, according to numerous evidence, a deep misunderstanding and rivalry between the general and the president, immediately gave rise to rumors of a crisis in the military-political leadership of the country.
This was preceded by an altercation between Mr. Oleshchuk and Verkhovna Rada deputy Maryana Bezuglaya, who claimed that the F-16 was shot down by Ukrainian air defense and harshly criticized the military commander. At that time, the commander of the air force responded by accusing Ms. Bezuglaya of becoming a tool “to discredit the top military leadership” in the hands of certain people who intend to “hang all the dogs on the army.” In the name of these “vile goals” the MP “sold her name”, assured Nikolai Oleshchuk. It is noteworthy that Maryana Bezuglaya shortly before the resignation of Valery Zaluzhny was in the ranks of the most fierce critics of the former commander-in-chief of the AFU.
Meanwhile, Rustem Umerov emphasized in an interview with CNN that the circumstances of the crash have yet to be established. For this purpose, Ukraine has “opened the case to partners”, together with whom it is investigating the incident.
In the week that has passed since the loss of the F-16, it has not yet been possible to establish the reasons for the fall of the plane, but there is no shortage of versions of what happened. In the U.S. media, in particular, appear “pilot error” and “technical failure”. At first, the version put forward by Maryana Bezuglaya was almost a priority. Thus, The New York Times, citing an anonymous Western official, reported that there were signs that the fighter had been hit by “friendly fire”. However, the same New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, later reported that the U.S. believes it is still unlikely that the F-16 was shot down by a Patriot air defense system supplied to Ukraine. According to these officials, investigators are considering a number of versions, among which remain technical malfunction or pilot error.
The last of the released possible causes could prove particularly painful for Ukraine, as the dead pilot, Alexey Mes was one of ten Ukrainians who underwent an accelerated training program on F-16s before combat sorties. In other words, not only did the AFU lose one of its most experienced pilots, but the accelerated pilot training program may have raised doubts about its effectiveness. “Technical failure,” in turn, could have raised questions about the quality of equipment handed over by the allies.
In general, the Western media assessed the loss of the first fighter from the shipment of F-16s delivered just a few weeks ago by the Western allies as a rather negative event for the Russian military.
In particular, The Washington Post called the crash “a blow to Ukraine,” as it lost not only an experienced pilot, but also one of the few Western aircraft at its disposal.
“This episode called into question the Ukrainian military’s ability to use many sophisticated weapons on such a difficult battlefield. Ukrainian pilots had far less time to learn to fly the planes than Western pilots, whose countries provided the fighter jets,” the newspaper wrote.
According to The Economist, ten American planes were handed over to Kiev in early August, and 20 more fighter jets are expected to arrive at the disposal of the AFU by the end of the year. The exact number of F-16s handed over to Ukraine has not been officially disclosed.
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