Ukrainian president Zelenskyy fires air pressure commander after deadly F-16 crash

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the commander of the nation’s air pressure Friday, 4 days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine obtained from its Western companions crashed throughout a Russian bombardment and killed the pilot.

The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was printed on the presidential web site.

“We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers,” Zelenskyy stated in an deal with minutes after the order was printed. He stated Ukraine must strengthen its military on the command degree.

Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed performing air pressure commander, the military’s normal employees stated.

The dismissal got here on the identical day that Oleshchuk directed scathing criticism at a lawmaker who’s deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s protection committee for her claims that the F-16 was downed by a Patriot air-defense system. Ukraine has obtained an unspecified variety of the U.S.-made techniques.

Mariana Bezuhla cited unnamed sources for her declare and demanded punishment for these chargeable for the error.

Oleshchuk accused Bezuhla of defaming the air pressure and discrediting U.S. arms producers and stated that he hoped she would face authorized penalties for her claims.

“The truth will win,” Bezuhla posted on X shortly after the dismissal order was printed.

The air pressure didn’t immediately deny that the F-16 was hit by a Patriot missile.

U.S. specialists have joined the Ukrainian investigation into the crash, the air pressure stated.

In the meantime, a Russian assault on the northeastern metropolis of Kharkiv utilizing highly effective plane-launched glide bombs killed six individuals, together with a 14-year-old lady on a playground, and wounded 47 others, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov stated.

The bombs struck 5 areas throughout town, which had a prewar inhabitants of 1.4 million individuals, the governor stated.

One of many bombs hit a 12-story house block, setting the constructing ablaze and trapping at the very least one particular person on an higher flooring. Emergency crews looking for survivors feared the construction may collapse.

In different developments, Ukrainian rockets hit the Russian metropolis of Belgorod and its environment on late Friday, killing 5 individuals and injuring 37, stated regional govenor Vyacheslav Gladkov. The area borders northern Ukraine ans comes underneath drone or artillery assaults nearly day by day.

Zelenskyy pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as additional proof that Western companions ought to scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian navy can goal with donated weapons.

The Kharkiv strike “wouldn’t have happened if our defense forces had the capability to destroy Russian military aviation at its bases. We need strong decisions from our partners to stop this terror,” Zelenskyy stated.

F-16s are one of many weapons that may very well be used to hit Russian bases behind the entrance line.

Oleshchuk stated on Telegram that “an in depth evaluation” was already being conducted into why the F-16 jet went down Monday, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine.

“We must carefully understand what happened, what the circumstances are, and whose responsibility it is,” Oleshchuk wrote in the post shortly before his dismissal.

The crash was the first reported loss of an F-16 in Ukraine, where the warplanes arrived at the end of last month. At least six are believed to have been delivered by European countries.

Military analysts say the planes will not be a game-changer in the war, given Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air-defense systems. But Ukrainian officials welcomed the supersonic jets, which can carry modern weapons used by NATO countries, for offering an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air superiority.

On the ground, the Russian army is making slow but gradual progress in its drive into eastern Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces are holding ground in the Kursk border region of western Russia after a recent incursion.

The Institute for the Study of War said it expected that Ukraine would lose some Western-provided military equipment in the fighting.

But the Washington-based think tank added that “any loss among Ukraine’s already limited allotment” of F-16s and educated pilots “can have an outsized influence” on the nation’s potential to function F-16s “as part of its combined air defense umbrella or in an air-to-ground support role.”

In other developments, European Union defense ministers agreed in Brussels to boost their training program for Ukrainian troops.

“Today the ministers agreed to raising the target to 75,000, adding 15,000 more by the end of the year,” EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell informed reporters after the assembly.

“The training has to be shortened and adapted to the Ukrainian training needs,” Borrell stated. He added that the EU would arrange a small “coordination and liaison cell” within the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to make the coaching effort more practical.

To this point, 60,000 troops have handed by means of the bloc’s coaching scheme, which is performed exterior Ukraine.