It was dry and laconic: “I have decided to replace the commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chose to be concise in announcing the dismissal of Mykola Oleshchuk on Friday, August 30, during his traditional video address, after the publication of a decree to this effect on the presidential website.
While no official reason has been given for this decision, it comes a day after the news of the crash of an F-16 aircraft, a valuable piece of military equipment delivered by the West and relentlessly demanded by Ukraine for two years. kyiv finally announced in early August that it had received the first models.
The Ukrainian military said the crash, which killed U.S.-trained pilot Oleksiy Mes, occurred during a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Monday. Few details about the incident have been provided by Ukrainian officials. The General Staff said the F-16s helped shoot down four Russian cruise missiles in the attack, but “During the approach to the next target, communication with one of the aircraft was lost”.
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“Culture of lies”
For her part, Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuhla, a member of the Parliament’s Defense Committee, puts forward an embarrassing version. According to her, the F-16 was shot down by mistake by a Patriot anti-aircraft system. “due to poor coordination between units”. In a message on Telegram, she had criticized, on Thursday, “the culture of lies” within the Ukrainian military command and the fact “that none of the generals were punished” and that “General Oleshchuk remains in office”.
On Friday, she added that it was “at least the third time” that a Ukrainian plane was mistakenly shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. “The two previous incidents, which did not involve F-16s, were officially blamed on the Russians.”she accused.
Mykola Oleshchuk had promised on Facebook on Friday before his dismissal to “to discover the causes of the air disaster” with the F-16, ensuring “hide nothing”. He accused M.me Bezuhla of wanting “discrediting senior military officials” and the United States, designers of the F-16s and Patriot systems supplied to kyiv.
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