Ukrainian pilot Oleksiy Mes, known as 'Moonfish', was killed in an attack. He is seen in a 2019 Facebook photo in the cockpit of a military plane. Photo / Facebook
Ukrainian pilot Oleksiy Mes, known as 'Moonfish', was killed in an attack. He is seen in a 2019 Facebook photo in the cockpit of a military plane. Photo / Facebook
Ukraine is mourning the loss of one of its most revered fighter pilots, who was killed in a prized Western-donated F-16 during a friendly fire incident that has triggered major controversy.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes, 30, known by the call sign “Moonfish”, was one of Kyiv’s most experienced aces and one of the first Ukrainian airmen to be qualified to fly the F-16 aircraft.
He was killed just weeks after the first small batch of the advanced fighter jets were delivered to the country.
Mes had been instrumental in convincing Washington and Nato allies to donate advanced fighter jets to Ukraine.
He travelled to the United States in 2022 with fellow pilot Andrii Pilshchykov, who had the call sign “Juice”, to lobby for F-16s for Ukraine.
“Moonfish” and “Juice” met lawmakers and appeared on US television with the actor Sean Penn to bolster their cause. Both fighter pilots are now dead.
Mes’ funeral was held in his hometown of Shepetivka in western Ukraine as part of a day of remembrance. Hundreds attended the service and his coffin was draped in the Ukrainian flag, surrounded by flowers and grieving relatives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo / Getty Images
A Ukrainian MP told the Telegraph that Mes’ death was a tragedy for his countrymen and for Kyiv’s military.
“He was one of those who promoted the idea of the importance of providing Ukraine with modern aircraft,” Oleksiy Goncharenko said.
“He and another top-class pilot travelled to the United States to meet with congressmen and convince them of the need for F-16s.
“And eventually, he was one of the first Ukrainian pilots to be trained on the F-16. This is a truly heavy loss for the entire Ukraine and the Air Force in particular.”
The precise circumstances of Mes’ death remain unclear, but early investigations suggest his F-16 was shot out of the sky by one of the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft systems, a US-made Patriot, during a barrage of missile and drone attacks by Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, sacked the head of his air force over the incident on Friday night.
The star pilot’s death, and the loss of the F-16 aircraft, worth between US$20 million and US$70m ($31m-$112m), mark a significant setback for Ukraine, which spent two years asking Western allies for the US-made jets to help it counter Russian attacks.
Though 40 pilots and 20 F-16 planes would be needed for a full operational squadron, a US official told the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine had to date received only six F-16s and had only six pilots trained to fly them.
At the funeral, a pair of MiG-29 fighter jets, flown by Mes’ former comrades, performed a low-level flypast in tribute to the fallen pilot.
The commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine posthumously awarded Mes the rank of colonel.
Tetiana Shevchuk, a friend, wrote: “Oleksiy was an exemplary pilot. Always an excellent student, always the first, always the best.”
Describing the circumstances of his death, Ukraine’s western air command said that Mes had destroyed “three cruise missiles and one attack drone”.
Paying tribute, it added that he “heroically fought his last battle in the sky … unfortunately at the cost of his own life”.
The command went on to say: “Oleksiy Mes was a strong and loyal soldier, a high-class pilot, a leader on earth and in the sky, a good friend, a loving son, father, husband, and patriot of his country.”
In August 2023, Joe Biden approved sending F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine. Later that month, a coalition of 11 countries began training a handful of Ukrainian pilots, including Mes, to fly the aircraft.
Mes admitted that the training programme was “condensed” and said there had been difficulties in adjusting to the Western aircraft.
He told Ukrainian media that transitioning from Soviet-type jets to Western jets was like “going from using a Nokia straight to an iPhone without all those steps in between”.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy said that a total of 80 F-16s would be delivered over the next few years, while more pilots were being trained to fly them.
Both the head of the Dutch military and the Prime Minister of Denmark have said that Ukraine would be free to use the F-16s for strikes on Russia with no restrictions.
It is unlikely, however, that they will be flown in combat operations close to the front line because of the risk posed by Russian surface-to-air missile systems.
