JAKARTA - A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot was killed in an accident while fending off Russian airstrikes involving hundreds of unmanned aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.
The pilot flew the damaged jet away from the settlement but did not have time to eject before it crashed, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
"Pilots used all the weapons on his plane and shot down seven aerial targets. When shooting down the last target, the plane was damaged and began to lose altitude," the Air Force said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the pilot, Maksym Ustymenko, and awarded him the title of Ukrainian Hero, the country's highest award, posthumously.
He also called for more support from Washington and Western allies to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses after the attack, which damaged homes and infrastructure across the country and injured 12 people, according to local authorities.
In Kyiv, families gathered at the metro station to take cover after the sirens went off.
Machine guns and explosions were heard across the capital and in the western city of Lviv, where such attacks were rare.
The governor of the Lviv region, which borders Poland, said the attack targeted critical infrastructure.
Ukraine has now lost three F-16s since it started operating US-made jets last year.
Kyiv hasn't disclosed the size of its F-16 fleet, but they have become a major and most widely used part of Ukraine's defenses.
Ukrainian military expert Roman Svitan, speaking earlier this month, said the F-16 was unsuitable for all tasks in the war, in particular fending off drones ensnaring Ukrainian cities, as it is better to use them against higher-speed targets.
Zelenskyy, speaking in his evening video address, said Ustymenko had flown a mission since a military operation that began in 2014 against Russian-funded separatists who had seized parts of eastern Ukraine.
"He controls four types of aircraft and has obtained important results in defending Ukraine," he said.
"It hurts to lose people like that," he said.
The Ukrainian military said a total of 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types were launched into Ukraine overnight. Ukrainian troops destroyed 211 drones and 38 missiles.
Meanwhile, 225 other unmanned aircraft were lost due to electronic warfare or were baits that did not carry explosives.
In his writing on X, Zelenskyy said: "Moscow won't stop as long as it still has the ability to launch a massive attack."
He said Russia launched about 114 missiles, 1,270 drones, and 1,100 glide bombs in just the past week.
The Russian government-owned news agency, RIA Novosti, said one person was killed by a Ukrainian drone in Russia-controlled Luhansk, Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia said they did not attack civilian targets.
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