The death of an experienced
Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot in battle against Russian drones
shows the high-risk tactics Kyiv will increasingly adopt if it
is unable to obtain critical new air defences, a senior
commander said on Thursday.
Dozens of people have been killed during intensifying
Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, a trend
officials have said will worsen if Kyiv’s allies do not step up
supplies of critical munitions.
Oleh Zakharchuk, deputy commander of Ukraine’s western air
command, delivered the warning just days after the Pentagon said
it was pausing some supplies of arms Ukraine needs to defend its
cities.
“Everyone must understand that there is no such thing as
enough weapons,” he said at the funeral for fighter pilot Maksym
Ustymenko at the golden-domed St Michael’s Monastery and
Cathedral in Kyiv.
“If we cannot use the missiles because we do not get them,
then it will be very difficult.”
Ustymenko was killed on June 29 after shooting down seven
Russian Shahed drones during a massive air strike that included
hundreds of drones as well as missiles.
Zakharchuk said the pilot first dispatched all the jet’s
air-to-air missiles, then resorted to firing his plane’s
cannons, which the commander described as a riskier tactic
because it requires Ukrainian pilots to get close to the drones.
“If we do not shoot down a Shahed and it falls on a
settlement, on a building and people die, what should we
choose?” he said. “Of course, we choose to destroy air targets
despite how difficult and risky it is.”
The held-up U.S. package includes missiles carried by the
F-16s.
On Thursday, at least four people were killed in separate
Russian air strikes on Poltava in central Ukraine and the
southern port of Odesa.
The Pentagon’s pause, a decision it said was made to
conserve U.S. stockpiles, also included precision munitions
Ukraine needs to fend off Russian advances on the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday
that he hoped to talk with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on
Friday or in coming days about the decision.
HONOURED IN CENTRAL KYIV
Mourners descended on St. Michael’s to honor Ustymenko,
whose coffin was later carried to Independence Square in a
sombre procession.
Fighter pilots are typically revered in Ukraine for their
role in fending off the increasingly heavy waves of air strikes
that Russia has launched against Ukrainian towns and cities
since late 2022.
Ustymenko was among the first 12 pilots to train on the
prized American-made fighter, which Kyiv began deploying last
August, deputy Air Force commander Serhiy Holubtsov said at the
ceremony.
Zakharchuk said Ustymenko had logged hundreds of hours on
Soviet-era aircraft before transitioning to the F-16. He also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The death of an experiencedUkrainian F-16 fighter pilot in battle against Russian dronesshows the high-risk tactics Kyiv will increasingly adopt if itis unable to obtain critical new air defences, a seniorcommander said on Thursday.Dozens of people have been killed during intensifyingRussian air strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, a trendofficials have said will worsen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n