Ukraine F-16 crashes, pilot dies during Russian airstrikes, Kyiv says

KYIV (Reuters) -An F-16 fighter jet used by Ukraine crashed on Monday, Kyiv's military said, the first such loss reported since the long-awaited arrival of the U.S.-made planes in the country was confirmed this month.

The jet came down and its pilot died while it was approaching a target during a Russian airstrike, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Thursday in a statement on Facebook.

The F-16s had "demonstrated high efficiency" and downed four Russian cruise missiles, it added. "Connection with one of the aircraft was lost while it was approaching the next target. As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot died," the statement added.

Ukraine has not given detail on the size of its new fleet, though the loss is likely to have left a significant dent. The Times of London has cited a source familiar with the matter as saying Ukraine had six of the jets.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed on Aug. 4 his pilots had started flying F-16s, hailing the moment as a major milestone in the fight against the invasion Russia launched 29 months ago.

He said on Tuesday F-16s were used to repel a major Russian attack a day earlier of more than 200 missiles and drones, which targeted the energy sector.

Monday's crash did not appear to be the result of Russian fire, and possible causes from pilot error to mechanical failure were still being investigated, a U.S. defense official told Reuters.

Military analysts have said the arrival of the small number of planes, while significant, is unlikely to be a turning point in the conflict.

Russia has had time to prepare defences to try to nullify the F-16s' impact, and Ukraine has had to survive with a depleted air force that is a fraction of the size and sophistication of its enemy's.

Ukraine's Air Force Western command posted on Facebook an obituary of a pilot, Oleksiy Mes, saying he died while repelling Monday's attack, but did not say he was an F-16 pilot.

CNN said Mes had a call sign Moonfish and reported in 2023 he was training for F-16 missions.

Kyiv has been urging allies to supply modern jets since the start of Russia's invasion to bolster its small and old post-Soviet fleet.

(Reporting by Idress Ali in Washington and Anastasia Malenko in Kyiv; writing Yuliia Dysa; editing by Toby Chopra, Rod Nickel and Andrew Heavens)