Ukraine investigates mid-air crash that killed three pilots
27 August 2023, 13:24
Meanwhile, Russian forces targeted central and northern regions of Ukraine with cruise missiles overnight.
Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a mid-air collision between two warplanes in the west of the country killed three pilots.
Air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian television on Sunday it was not immediately clear how long the inquiry would take.
According to the air force’s Telegram page, two L-39 training military aircraft collided during a combat mission over Ukraine’s western Zhytomyr region on Friday.
Three pilots were killed, including Andriy Pilshchykov, a well-known pilot with the nickname “Juice” who was an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets.
President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address on Saturday paid tribute to Mr Pilshchykov, describing him as a “Ukrainian officer, one of those who helped our country a lot”.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Vasilkiv tactical aviation brigade identified the other two pilots killed in the collision as Viacheslav Minka and Serhiy Prokazin.
Meanwhile, Russian forces targeted central and northern regions of Ukraine with cruise missiles overnight.
Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that air defences had successfully intercepted four of them.
In the Kyiv region surrounding the Ukrainian capital, the falling debris damaged a dozen private homes and wounded two people, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that it targeted – and successfully hit – an airfield in the Kyiv region. Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on the claim.
In Russia, the Defence Ministry reported bringing down two drones over the Bryansk and Kursk regions that border Ukraine.
The drones, the ministry said, were launched by “the Kyiv regime” in “yet another attempt at terrorist attacks” on Russian soil.
Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit, however, reported that a drone slammed into a multistorey residential building in the region’s capital.
It was not immediately clear if it crashed after being shot down by air defences, as reported by the Defence Ministry, or was targeting the building.
Mr Starovoit said no-one was hurt, but a number of windows were shattered.
