Kyiv says F-16 pilot killed in combat

KYIV: A Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed in combat, Kyiv said Saturday, in the second such incident since the delivery of the precious US-made fighter jets to Ukraine to help fight Russia’s invasion.

“On 12 April 2025, 26-year-old Pavlo Ivanov died while flying an F-16 combat mission,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement.

“He was killed in action, defending his homeland from the invaders,” it added.

The army did not give more details on the circumstances of how he died and said that a commission was working to establish “all the circumstances of the tragedy.”

“Ukrainian pilots work to the maximum of their human and technical capabilities, risking their lives every time they perform combat missions. Pavlo was one of them!,” the army said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ivanov was killed in action and expressed condolences to his family.

“We are investigating all the circumstances,” he said on social media.

Kyiv received the first deliveries of F-16s in summer last year, after spending two years pushing for them.

In August 2024, Kyiv said that an F-16 had crashed while repelling a Russian missile attack, killing its pilot.

That was until now the only loss of an F-16 announced by Kyiv.

Last month, Zelensky announced the delivery of a fresh of batch of the jets, without giving an exact number.