The statement said: “This night, a first-class pilot, Colonel Maxim Ostiminko (born in 1993), died as a result of the crash of the F-16 aircraft.
The statement stated that the pilot was involved in a “clash with a large attack” before his plane was damaged, and began to lose height. Ostiminko was able to turn the plane from the populated area, but he could not jump into the parachute.
Ukrainian troops lost another F-16 in similar circumstances in May last year, and a plane of this kind crashed in April last year amid suspicion that they were shot down by friendly fire.
The Wall Stree Journal previously reported that Ukraine shot down one of its F-16s in the summer of 2024, because Washington hid an important technology for Kyiv for the system for determining the link 16, which transfers information about the whereabouts of the aircraft to the military on the ground, which allows them to distinguish friendly and hostile aircraft.
Source: RT
