Ukraine admits loss of three Western-made F-16 fighter jets

On the morning of May 16, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of an F-16 fighter jet resulting from an emergency situation on its board while the plane was performing a night assignment for repelling an aerial attack
Though Pakistan is still hiding its losses from India’s Operation Sindoor, Ukraine has admittedly also lost three Western-made F-16 fighter jets since their delivery to the Ukrainian Air Force, according to open data sources.
On the morning of May 16, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of an F-16 fighter jet resulting from an emergency situation on its board while the plane was performing a night assignment for repelling an aerial attack. The Ukrainian military did not specify the site of the incident or the nature of the emergency.
On April 12, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the death of an F-16 pilot, without giving any details. On April 13, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that the F-16 fighter had been shot down by Russian air defense systems.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported the loss of the first F-16 fighter jet in late August last year, without giving any details of the incident. According to the data of the Ukrainian Air Force, the fighter jet crashed. Verkhovna Rada member Maryana Bezuglaya who regularly subjects the Ukrainian military command to severe criticism asserted that the F-16 jet had been mistakenly shot down by a Patriot air defense missile.
After that, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Nikolay Oleshchuk (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) was removed from his post. However, Kiev claimed that his dismissal was not related to the F-16 loss.
The exact number of F-16 jets delivered to Ukraine remains a secret. However, approximate figures mentioned by representatives of the Kiev regime and Western countries suggest that there can be no more than over 20 of them as of now.