The Voice of America in Ukraine quoted an anonymous military official on Thursday that the staff leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is looking into various possibilities of the crash of a Western-donated F-16 fighter aircraft on Monday within its home territory, including the possibility of friendly fire from Ukrainian air defenses.
Speaking to the radio outlet on condition of anonymity, the official said that various possibilities are being considered, including friendly fire, a technical malfunction, and pilot error.
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“But the exact reasons will be known only after the completion of the investigation,” he said.
An official statement from the AFU’s General Staff noted only that “communication was lost” with an F-16 aircraft while it was approaching the next target.
“As it turned out later, the plane had crashed, and the pilot was killed,” the statement read.
Mariana Bezugla, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, stated on Facebook that a Patriot air defence system mistakenly shot down Ukrainian pilot Olexiy "Moonfish" Mesya's F-16 due to miscommunication between units.
"War is war; such episodes are possible. However, the culture of deceit within the Command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as in other senior military headquarters, leads to a deterioration in the military decision-making system," the deputy stated.
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The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing comments from an unnamed US official, said the incident was likely caused by pilot error, after the fighter jet went down amid a massive volley of Russian missile launches targeting the Ukrainian power grid on Monday.
The Pentagon referred the WSJ to the Ukrainian Air Force for further comments, but the latter “wouldn’t confirm the crash or the status of the pilot.”
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