Ukraine's military said one of its F-16 fighter jets was lost on Monday while it was trying to repel a big-scale Russian offensive, news agency Reuters reported.
This incident marked the first reported loss of the US-supplied aircraft since their arrival earlier this month.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff in a Facebook statement, the jet crashed with the death of the pilot while engaging an enemy target.
Despite this mishap, the F-16s have otherwise been phenomenally successful, shooting down four Russian cruise missiles.
On the same day, Russia fired a wide barrage of over 200 missiles and drones targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
The reason for the crash is yet to be determined, but one US defense official suspected it could not be blamed on Russian fire.
It could have been due to failure by the pilot or mechanical failure. The number of its F-16 fleet was not declared by Ukraine, but the loss is considered immense.
According to reports, Ukraine only had six of those jets.
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