Fighting aircraft F-16, photo: AA / Abaca Press / Profimedia Images
Kiev authorities announced on Saturday that a Ukrainian F-16 pilot has died in the fight, in the second incident after the delivery of important American manufacturing aircraft to support Ukraine in the battle with Russian invaders, AFP reports.
“On April 12, 2025, Pavlo Ivanov, 26, died while flying with a F-16 in a fighting mission,” said the Ukrainian army.
“He was killed in the action, defending his homeland,” the Kiev forces added.
The army did not provide other details about the circumstances in which the event took place, but said that a commission works to establish “all the circumstances of the tragedy”.
“The pilots work on the maximum of their human and technical capacity, risking their lives every time they carry out fighting missions. Pavlo was one of them!”, The army stressed.
Today, 21-Year-Old Ukrainian Fighter Pavlo Ivanov Was Killed During has combat Mission in F-16.
Hed Defending His Country -Youn, Brave, and Fearless. pic.twitter.com/t1ic7tcu8t
– Kyivpost (@kyivpost) April 12, 2025
Ukraine President Volodimir Zelenski confirmed that the pilot was killed in the fight and sent a message of condolences to the bereaved family.
“We investigate all the circumstances,” the Ukrainian leader said in the message on social networks.
Kiev received the first deliveries of F-16 aircraft in the summer of 2024, after two years of efforts to convince the Allies to take such a step.
In August 2024, the Ukrainian authorities announced that a F-16 plane had collapsed while rejecting the attack of a rocket launched by the Russian forces, in an event resulting in the pilot's death. To this day it was the only episode of this kind that Kiev reported.
In March 2025, President Zelenski announced the delivery of a new batch of airplanes, without providing an exact number in this regard.
On Friday, the leader of Ukraine asked the Allies to urgently provide additional anti-aircraft defense systems, saying that his country needs ten more Patriot batteries in the fight with Russian forces.
“You know that Ukraine lacks anti-aircraft defense systems. You know that Patriot systems can effectively protect against ballistic threats. I ask you to focus, first of all, on Ukraine's aerial defense. We really need it. Ten Patriot systems-the free world has them,” Zelenski said in a video of Krivo. Killed last week 19 people, of whom nine children, according to AFP.
