By Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed the commander of the country’s air force, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, following the crash of a newly acquired F-16 fighter jet during a Russian bombardment earlier this week. The decision, announced Friday, comes amid heightened tensions and ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The presidential order, published on the official website, named Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko as the acting air force commander. In his address, Zelenskyy emphasized the need to “protect people, protect personnel, and take care of all our soldiers,” indicating a desire to strengthen the army at the command level.
This high-profile dismissal occurred against the backdrop of a contentious debate surrounding the circumstances of the F-16 crash. Mariana Bezuhla, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s defense committee, claimed that the aircraft was downed by a Patriot air-defense system, citing unnamed sources. This allegation drew sharp criticism from Oleshchuk, who accused Bezuhla of defamation and discrediting U.S. arms manufacturers.
The air force has not directly denied Bezuhla’s claim, and U.S. experts have joined the Ukrainian investigation into the crash. The incident marks the first reported loss of an F-16 in Ukraine since the warplanes arrived at the end of last month, with at least six believed to have been delivered by European countries.
Meanwhile, Russian forces continue to target civilian areas in Ukraine. A devastating attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv using powerful plane-launched glide bombs killed six people, including a 14-year-old girl on a playground, and wounded 47 others. The bombs struck five locations across the city, with one hitting a 12-story apartment block, setting it ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor.
In response to these attacks, Zelenskyy called for Western partners to remove restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons. He argued that such strikes “wouldn’t have happened if our defense forces had the capability to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases.”
The ongoing conflict has also seen Ukrainian forces making incursions into Russian territory. Ukrainian rockets reportedly hit the Russian city of Belgorod and its surroundings late Friday, resulting in five deaths and 37 injuries, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
On the ground, military analysts report that Russian forces are making slow but gradual progress in eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces are holding ground in the Kursk border region of western Russia following a recent incursion.
The Institute for the Study of War has warned that any loss among Ukraine’s limited allotment of F-16s and trained pilots will have a significant impact on the country’s ability to operate these advanced fighters effectively.
In a related development, European Union defense ministers agreed in Brussels to boost their training program for Ukrainian troops. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that the target for trained Ukrainian troops would be raised to 75,000 by the end of the year, with plans to establish a small coordination and liaison cell in Kyiv to enhance the training effort’s effectiveness.
