KYIV: Ukraine said on Thursday that one of its F-16 fighter jets made by the United States crashed while repelling a Russian air strike, killing the pilot onboard.

The announcement marks the first reported destruction of an F-16 in Ukraine, just weeks after Kyiv began taking delivery of the supersonic aircraft. `F-16 fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were used to repel a missile attack on the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, along with units of anti-aircraft missile troops,` the Ukrainian army said.

`During the approach to the next target, communication with one of the planes was lost. As it turned out later, the aircraft crashed, killing the pilot,` it added.

It did not identify the pilot, but a unit of Ukraine`s air force said one of its pilots, Oleksiy Mes, had died in a crash while repelling a Russian air attack. `On 26 August, while repelling a Russian massive combined missile and air strike, Oleksiy destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack drone,` Ukraine`s Western air command unit said.

`Oleksiy saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles. Unfortunately, at the cost of his own life,` it said.

The announcements come as a blow to Ukraine, which had long relied on a fleet of ageing Soviet-era MIG-29 and Sukhoi jets and had asked for the F-16s to defend against intense Russian aerial bombardment.

Moscow fired a wave of attack drones and missiles at Ukraine this week in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called one of the `largest` attacks of Russia`s two-and-a-half year invasion.-AFP