Yesterday, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Pavlo Ivanov, an F-16 fighter jet pilot, was killed in action. However, there was reticence to connect his death with a combat incident involving an F-16. Ukrainska Pravda reported that the “Air Force has provided no details concerning Ivanov’s death.” Then, acting president Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that he died in combat, saying that he had received reports from military personnel on the situation. Then he added: “We are investigating all the circumstances.” Later, he proceeded to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Ivanov.
Previously, Kiev had confirmed the loss of an F-16 last August, keeping silent about how it happened. Various reports attributed it to a mistake of Kiev’s own anti-aircraft defenses. The then-announced investigation never resulted in a public report. Yesterday, in a second incident, the F-16 apparently was deployed in air defense for Kiev and, overnight, various reports stated that the F-16 was possibly hit by Ukraine’s own ground-based air defense. Ukraine’s Air Force was “not able to say,” but today, Ukrainska Pravda referred to “BBC sources” who said that one of their sources in the UK government told them that the F-16 was not brought down by friendly fire, because Ukraine’s air defenses were not active in the area—as if Kiev would not have known that. Rather, it “was likely shot down by a Russian missile.” The source explained: “In total, the Russians fired three missiles at the plane. It was either a guided anti-aircraft missile from a S-400 ground-based system or an R-37 air-to-air missile.”
