Ukraine Russia war latest: Star Ukrainian pilot killed as Kyiv loses first F-16 donated by Western allies

Ukraine has lost a Western-donated F-16 fighter jet for the first time, after one of the aircraft crashed during operations to intercept a massive Russian missile and drone attack .

The crash killed one of Ukraine’s most experienced pilots, Colonel Alexei “Moonfish” Mes, who had been one of the faces of a campaign to encourage Western allies to supply Kyiv the jets.

The crash occurred on Monday during a massive Russian air attack, during which four Russian missiles were shot down by F-16s.

Mes had traveled to the US in 2022 to lobby for F-16 support and met with senior American members of Congress.

Earlier, the UK, the European Union and Ukraine ramped up calls for Kyiv to be allowed to strike deeper into mainland Russia, saying that restricting anything short of full capability renders their long-range missiles “useless”.

Speaking in Brussels, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Kyiv’s allies to “lift restrictions”.

“The weaponry that we are providing to Ukraine has to have full use, and the restrictions have to be lifted in order for the Ukrainians to be able to target the places where Russia is bombing them. Otherwise, the weaponry is useless,” Mr Borrell said.