Ukrainian president Zelenskyy fires air power commander after deadly F-16 crash : NPR


In this photo taken Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, the Ukrainian Air Force's F-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. One of the handful of F-16 warplanes that Ukraine has received from its Western partners to help fight Russia's invasion crashed on Monday, Aug. 26, when Russia launched a major missile and drone barrage at Ukraine, Ukraine's military officials said on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.

On this photograph taken on Aug. 4, 2024, the Ukrainian Air Power’s F-16 fighter jet flies in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.

Efrem Lukatsky/AP


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Efrem Lukatsky/AP

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the commander of the nation’s air power Friday, 4 days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine acquired 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 have to shield folks. Defend personnel. Maintain all our troopers,” Zelenskyy stated in an tackle minutes after the order was printed. He stated Ukraine must strengthen its military on the command stage.

Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed performing air power commander, the military’s common workers 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 acquired an unspecified variety of the U.S.-made programs.

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

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

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

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

U.S. consultants have joined the Ukrainian investigation into the crash, the air power stated.

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

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

One of many bombs hit a 12-story condo block, setting the constructing ablaze and trapping not less than one individual on an higher ground. Emergency crews trying to find 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 folks and injuring 37, stated regional govenor Vyacheslav Gladkov. The area borders northern Ukraine ans comes below drone or artillery assaults nearly every day.

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

The Kharkiv strike “wouldn’t have occurred if our protection forces had the potential to destroy Russian army aviation at its bases. We’d like sturdy choices from our companions to cease this terror,” Zelenskyy stated.

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

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

“We should rigorously perceive what occurred, what the circumstances are, and whose duty it’s,” Oleshchuk wrote within the publish shortly earlier than his dismissal.

The crash was the primary reported lack of an F-16 in Ukraine, the place the warplanes arrived on the finish of final month. At the very least six are believed to have been delivered by European nations.

Army analysts say the planes is not going to be a game-changer within the struggle, given Russia’s large air power and complicated air-defense programs. However Ukrainian officers welcomed the supersonic jets, which may carry trendy weapons utilized by NATO nations, for providing a possibility to hit again at Russia’s air superiority.

On the bottom, the Russian military is making gradual however gradual progress in its drive into jap Ukraine, whereas Ukrainian forces are holding floor within the Kursk border area of western Russia after a current incursion.

The Institute for the Research of Battle stated it anticipated that Ukraine would lose some Western-provided army gear within the preventing.

However the Washington-based assume tank added that “any loss amongst Ukraine’s already restricted allotment” of F-16s and educated pilots “may have an outsized influence” on the nation’s capacity to function F-16s “as a part of its mixed air protection umbrella or in an air-to-ground assist position.”

In different developments, European Union protection ministers agreed in Brussels to spice up their coaching program for Ukrainian troops.

“At this time the ministers agreed to elevating the goal to 75,000, including 15,000 extra by the top of the yr,” EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell informed reporters after the assembly.

“The coaching must be shortened and tailored to the Ukrainian coaching wants,” 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 via the bloc’s coaching scheme, which is performed exterior Ukraine.

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