The Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) lost their best pilots, who never managed to use the full power of the newly transferred Western air arsenal. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal wrote about this on September 2.

The media notes that pilot Alexey Mes, who crashed on August 29 while piloting an F-16, as well as another pilot, Andrei Pilshchikov with the call sign Juice, who died in the Zhytomyr region in June 2022 during a training flight, were very happy for Ukraine to receive Western fighters as soon as possible.

«By the time the country received the F-16 aircraft, many of the best Ukrainian pilots, such as the pilot with the call sign Juice, had already died,» the article says.

Information about the crash of one of the F-16 aircraft, which the United States handed over to Kiev, appeared on the evening of August 29. The press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the incident, indicating that pilot Alexey Mes was also killed.

On August 30, the non-governmental organization Wingmen for Ukraine noted that the pilot himself campaigned for the transfer of combat aircraft from Western countries to the country. And in 2022, together with his colleague Pilshchikov, he even visited the United States to lobby for the supply of F-16s to Ukraine.

At the same time, Verkhovna Rada deputy Mariana Bezuglaya said that the F-16 fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was shot down by friendly fire from Patriot missiles due to «discoordination between units» of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for crimes of the Kiev regime, Rodion Miroshnik, commenting on the incident with the F-16, ironically called the destruction of the aircraft using the Patriot system a worthy start. The Washington Post called the crash of the F-16 plane, as well as the death of one of the star Ukrainian fighter pilots, a serious blow to Ukraine.

In turn, retired US Army political scientist and lieutenant Colonel Earl Rasmussen said that the Ukrainian pilots did not have enough time to master the skills of controlling the F-16. According to him, Kiev does not have enough experience in the field of training and maintenance of personnel for flights on this model. In addition, old aircraft were transferred to them, which must undergo a technical inspection course before operation.