The dismissal of Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk was not connected to the deadly crash of an F-16 fighter jet earlier in the week, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in an interview with CNN published on Aug. 30.
Oleshchuk's removal came a day after the Ukrainian military confirmed that an F-16 fighter jet, recently delivered to the country and flown by one of Ukraine's top pilots, Oleksii Mes, call sign "Moonfish," had crashed while defending against a mass Russian drone and missile attack on Aug. 26. Mes was killed in the crash.
The reason for Oleshchuk's firing was not listed in the decision published on the website of the Presidential Office.
"I would probably say this is a rotation," said Umerov. "This is two separate issues…at this stage, I would not connect them."
Umerov said that the crash and the death of Mes was "unfortunate" and that the incident was being investigated.
"We're analyzing what has happened," said Umerov. "We've also opened this file to our partners so they are also analyzing this and investigating along with us."
Chris York
Ukraine's Defense Ministry has established a special commission to investigate the cause of the crash. Oleshchuk said that Ukraine had received a preliminary report from the U.S., which he said is now part of the investigation.
At the same time, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Aug. 29 that she was "not aware of any assistance or requests for assistance from the Ukrainian side to us about this particular incident."
Singh declined to discuss the crash in more detail, repeatedly saying that such questions should be referred to Ukrainian officials.
Separately, an unnamed U.S. defense official told Reuters that the crash "did not appear to be the result of Russian fire" and said that other causes, including "pilot error" and "mechanical failure," were being investigated.
Citing unnamed officials, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Aug. 31 that the White House rejected a proposal from the U.S. military to send civilian contractors to Ukraine to maintain F-16s and other equipment.
The WSJ said the U.S. intelligence community deemed the plan too risky and "raised concerns over the prospect of Russia targeting American contractors in Ukraine."
Ukraine received its first F-16s by the beginning of August, a year after its allies formed the fighter jet coalition at the NATO summit in Vilnius to support Kyiv with training and aircraft.
On Aug. 31, Danish PM Mette Frederiksen told the Globsec conference in Prague that F-16 fighter jets donated by Denmark are "working in Ukraine."
Elsa Court
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