Zelensky fires Ukraine air force commander after F-16 crash

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he had fired his air force commander, making the decision just days after a pilot crashed an American-made F-16 in Ukraine.

Zelensky said in his nightly address that he had dismissed Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk but offered few details on why.

โ€œI am immensely grateful to all our military pilots, all engineers, all warriors of mobile firing groups, air defense units,โ€ he stated, adding, โ€œThe same goes for the command level โ€” we must strengthen ourselves. And take care of people. Take care of personnel โ€” take care of all our warriors.โ€

The armyโ€™s general staff said Lt. Gen. Anatoly Mykolayovych, head of the Air Command Center of the air force, is temporarily assuming the duties of top commander.

Oleshchuk had a public dispute with a Ukrainian member of Parliament, Maryana Bezugla, over the F-16 crash.

A pilot operating an F-16 died Monday while defending Ukraine against a major Russian attack. The F-16 was not downed by Russian fire and appears to have crashed because of a mechanical failure, pilot error or another cause, according to Reuters.

The US has joined the crash investigation.

Bezugla alleged in a post on Telegram that the F-16 was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, possibly a US Patriot system.

Bezugla claimed at least two other incidents have involved air defenses shooting down a Ukrainian fighter jet, and the air force tried to โ€œkeep silent and hide information about this case until it appeared in foreign sources”.

โ€œThis indicates a lack of proper conclusions and an objective investigation,โ€ she wrote in the post Friday.

โ€œThis needs to be changed! This cannot continue any longer. A culture of lies leads us to defeat.โ€

Oleshchuk said in a Friday post on his Telegram page that โ€œno one has hidden anythingโ€ and a detailed investigation was underway.

โ€œBut it doesnโ€™t matter to the people who chose Maryana Bezugla as a tool to discredit the top military leadership,โ€ he added, accusing her of pouring dirt on him personally and on the air force and discrediting the US as the manufacturer of weapons Ukraine is using.

Ukraine had asked for the F-16s since nearly the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, arguing the prized American fighter jets could help defend the skies.

The first batch of F-16s arrived in late July.

โ€บ Subscribe

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

More Articles