Ukrainian pilot Mes campaigned for the transfer of Western combat aircraft to Kyiv
Ukrainian pilot Alexei Mes, who died in the crash of one of the F-16 fighters transferred to Kyiv, actively campaigned for the transfer of combat aircraft from the West to the country. This wrote On the social network X, the non-governmental organization Wingmen for Ukraine is participating in fundraising to help Kyiv.
“Mes was not only an experienced pilot, but also an advocate for expanding Ukraine’s military capabilities. Together with his colleague, the late Andrey Pilshchikov, he visited the United States in 2022 to lobby for the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine,” the company said in a statement.
The organization accompanied its post with photographs in which both Ukrainians are pictured standing near Capitol Hill in Washington. Other photographs show that Mes and Pilshchikov have previously been interviewed on the American television channel CNN.
On Wednesday, August 28, it became known that the first Western F-16 fighter jet provided to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had been destroyed. As specified, the fighter jet was at a military airfield in the Khmelnytsky region.
The following day, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada deputy Maryana Bezugla stated that the F-16 was shot down by a missile from a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system transferred to Ukraine. She emphasized that the Ukrainian army aviation command tried to hide the cause of the incident and accused the head of the Ukrainian Air Force Mykola Oleshchuk of silence.
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky fired Oleshchuk after the crash of the F-16 transferred to Kyiv. At the same time, the president appointed Anatoliy Krivonozhko as acting head of the Ukrainian Air Force.
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