Russia has boasted of killing the first Ukrainian F-16-trained pilot in an attack on an air base.
The loss of 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Mes was confirmed in an obituary on social media by the mayor of Lutsk.
He died “while carrying out a combat mission to protect the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine,” according to Ihor Polishchuk.
This comes after Russia attacked Ukraine with 200 drones and missiles in “one of the largest bombing raids of the war” earlier this week.
The mayor later deleted the post, possibly due to sensitivity over the F-16 program, but Ukrainian officials have not denied the death.
The loss of 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Mes (right) was confirmed in an obituary on social media by the mayor of Lutsk.
Mes, one of the first F-16 pilots, was reportedly killed in a massive combined Russian missile and drone strike on August 26.
Mes pictured preparing for an incentive flight in an F-15D Eagle with the 144th Fighter Wing as part of the State Partnership Program in 2019
The pilots have been training in the West for two years to fly the F-16 multi-role fighter jets that have begun arriving in Ukraine in recent weeks.
Russia has offered a £124,000 cash reward to its armed forces for shooting down the first elite Western F-16 jet.
Mes appears to be the first F-16 pilot to die in the war, but the circumstances remain unclear and other Ukrainian officials have not commented.
It is unknown whether his plane was damaged, and if so, it was on the ground rather than flying, according to emerging details.
Previous images showed Mes overseas in Denmark, a NATO member state, training on F-16s, having previously been a MiG-29 pilot.
The mayor described him as deputy commander of a special operations support group and said: “Our most sincere condolences to the family and friends. Eternal memory, honor and respect to the Heroes!”
Russian sources said he was killed in an attack on a Ukrainian air base on August 26.
U.S. Air National Guard Lt. Col. and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, center, with Ukrainian Lt. Col. Oleksii Mes, 31, right
Details of the combined Russian missile and drone attack in the image
Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Mes, 31, left, pictured speaking on US news channel CNN
That day, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have attacked airfields in the kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, but there were also reports of attacks in other regions.
The Kremlin’s official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that “one of the first Ukrainian F-16 pilots, Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksii Mes, has died…”
‘This happened on August 26, when Russian military forces carried out a series of attacks against infrastructure targets of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in western Ukraine.
‘The exact airfield where the pilot died is not specified.’
Other reports indicated that it was not known whether the attack occurred while he was in a command post or at the controls of his aircraft.