Maksym Ustimenko’s plane shot down seven air targets earlier than shedding altitude and crashing, the air drive says.
Ukraine has misplaced an F-16 plane and its pilot whereas repelling a Russian missile and drone strike, in line with the war-torn nation’s air drive.
After capturing down seven air targets, the airplane was broken and misplaced altitude in a single day, the Ukrainian army mentioned in an announcement printed on Telegram on Sunday.
“This night time, whereas repelling an enormous enemy air assault, a pilot of the first class, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16 plane,” it mentioned.
In a separate assertion, the air drive mentioned Russia launched 537 projectiles in opposition to Ukraine, together with Shahed drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 475 of them.
Based on the Kyiv Unbiased newspaper, the sound of explosions and strikes was reported in a number of areas throughout the nation, together with in southern Mykolaiv, southeastern Zaporizhia and western Lviv.
Ihor Taburets, the governor of central Ukraine’s Cherkasy area, mentioned at the least six folks have been injured and civilian infrastructure was broken in assaults. Three multistorey buildings and a university have been broken within the assault, he mentioned.
Industrial amenities have been hit within the southern Ukrainian area of Mykolaiv and the central Dnipropetrovsk area, officers say. Native authorities printed pictures of high-rise residential buildings with charred partitions and damaged home windows, and rescuers evacuating folks.
In Russia, the Ministry of Defence mentioned its forces destroyed three Ukrainian drones within the border areas of Kursk and Rostov, and in Ukraine’s annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The inundation wave of violence comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned on Friday he intended to scale back army expenditure and likewise indicated he was prepared for a brand new spherical of peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Previously months, Moscow and Kyiv have despatched delegations twice to the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul for peace talks, however have made no progress in direction of ending the battle, which began after Russia invaded its neighbour greater than three years in the past.
Nonetheless, each side agreed upon and confirmed cooperation on prisoners’ swap.