Mykola Oleshchuk’s dismissal thought to be linked to death of pilot and loss of plane newly delivered to Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fired the head of Ukraine’s air force a day after it emerged that a recently delivered F-16 jet had crashed earlier this week, killing the pilot.
“I have decided to replace the commander of the air forces … I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots,” Zelenskiy said in his evening video address on Friday, without giving a reason for the dismissal of Mykola Oleshchuk.
But Zelenskiy spoke of the need to “protect” the lives of those defending the country, suggesting the dismissal is probably related to the F-16 crash in which Lt Col Oleksiy Mes died. The arrival of the F-16s, donated by a number of European nations, was delayed due to the lengthy training programme required for pilots and ground staff to be able to operate the aircraft.
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/30/ukraine-russian-advances-pokrovsk-kursk
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