Ukraine F-16 pilot killed repelling massive Russian air attack | Conflict News

The Maksym Utimenko plane shot down seven air targets before losing the altitude and crashing, says the Air Force.

Ukraine has lost an F-16 plane and its pilot while pushing a Russian missile and a strike of drones, according to the Air Force torn by the war.

After lowering seven air targets, the plane was damaged and lost the altitude of the day, the Ukrainian army said in a statement published on Telegram on Sunday.

“This night, while pushing a huge enemy air attack, a 1st class pilot, Lieutenant-Colonel Maksym Utimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16 plane,” he said.

In a separate declaration, the Air Force said that Russia had launched 537 projectiles against Ukraine, including Shahed drones, cruises and ballistic missiles. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 475.

According to the independent newspaper of Kyiv, the sound of explosions and strikes has been reported in several areas across the country, notably in the south of Mykolav, southeast of Zaporizhia and Western Lviv.

Ihor Taburets, the governor of the Cherkasy region of Central Ukraine, said that at least six people had been injured and that the civil infrastructure had been damaged in the attacks. Three buildings with several taxes and a college were damaged during the attack, he said.

Industrial facilities have been affected in the Ukrainian South Mykolav region and in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, according to officials. Local authorities have published photos of high -rise residential buildings with charred walls and broken windows, and rescuers evacuating people.

In Russia, the Ministry of Defense said that its forces had destroyed three Ukrainian drones in the border regions of Kursk and Rostov, and in the annular Crimean Crimea peninsula.

The last wave of violence comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Friday He intended to retreat Military spending and also said he was ready for a new series of peace negotiations with Ukraine.

In recent months, Moscow and kyiv have sent delegations twice to the Turkish city of Istanbul for peace talks, but have made no progress towards the end of the conflict, which began after Russia has invaded its neighbor more than three years ago.

However, the two parties agreed and showed cooperation on exchange of prisoners.