Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk was dismissed on Friday, August 30, by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The decision comes four days after the loss of one of the ten American-made aircraft received by kyiv and the death of its pilot, the highly publicized Oleksiy Mes.
In office since 2021 and aged 52, Mykola Oleshchuk comes from the anti-aircraft defense. He is replaced by Anatoly Krivonojko, 59, a man with a different profile, since he is a former airplane pilot.
The circumstances of the F-16’s destruction are not yet clear, but it is known that the aircraft was carrying out a mission to protect Ukrainian airspace at the time of the Russian attack, the most massive since the beginning of the war. By Monday, August 26, Russia had launched 127 missiles of various types and 109 Shahed attack drones. It is also known that several F-16s carried out missions to shoot down enemy projectiles.
According to the command of the Ukrainian Air Force (known by its Ukrainian acronym PSU), the F-16s destroyed four missiles. The aircraft of Oleksiy Mes (nom de guerre: “Moonfish”) was not lost due to pilot error or shot down by Russian fighters, claims the PSU, which has opened an investigation, in which international experts are invited to collaborate.
“Bad coordination”
Without waiting for the conclusions of an investigation that could last several months, a Ukrainian MP known for her diatribes targeting personalities displeasing to the presidency, attacked head-on, Thursday, the commander in chief Mykola Oleshchuk. Member of the defense committee of the Parliament, MP Mariana Bezugla, denounced the « silence » on the incident, of these “old-fashioned generals who are leading us to defeat.” According to her, the F-16 was mistakenly shot down by a Patriot air defense system (supplied by the United States) “due to poor coordination between units.” Still according to Mme Bezougla, it would be “At least the third Ukrainian plane lost to friendly fire”.
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Mykola Oleshchuk immediately returned fire on his Telegram channel, calling his criticism “instrument used to discredit the military command”promising that “The time will come when you [Mariana] will come to court to apologize in front of the whole army for what you have done”. In passing, he accuses the MP of at the same time discrediting the American manufacturer of the Patriot system.
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