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Ukraine confirms death of F-16 pilot

The Air Force said the pilot was killed in an aerial fight on August 26

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the death of a Ukrainian F-16 pilot.

Earlier, an unidentified US official told the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine had lost a donated F-16 fighter jet in the first such case. According to the official, the jet was not shot down, and the crash was likely due to pilot error.

The US Department of Defense declined to comment to TASS, when asked about reports that Ukraine lost an F-16 jet.

"The pilot of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexey Mes, has died," the Air Force said on Telegram.

The Air Force said the pilot was killed in an aerial fight on August 26.

CNN reported that Mes had received training on flying the F-16. According to the report, which cited a source in the Ukrainian military, the pilot was killed when the jet crashed. The source told CNN he does not believe that the F-16 crash was caused by pilot error.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 7 that F-16 fighters would not become a magic pill that could influence the course of hostilities and "will be consistently destroyed by the Russian armed forces."

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