The grave of Ukraine’s first F-16 pilot killed in action
The grave of Ukraine’s first F-16 pilot killed in action
We traveled to Oleksii Mes’ hometown of Shepetivka to find where one of Ukraine’s finest was laid to rest. Zelenskyy has fired his air force chief, in apparent response to the death.
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At the end of a long path, surrounded by unchecked weeds, is a plot of freshly overturned dirt.
Peeking out from behind a heap of blue and yellow roses: the grave of one of Ukraine’s best pilots. Oleksii Mes, known by his callsign Moonfish, died earlier this week flying the long-awaited F-16 fighter jet.
It was the first loss of an F-16 in Ukraine, and the first loss of one of its pilots. The pilot was a remarkable man, a talented aviator, and a successful advocate for Ukraine’s effort to rally the West’s attention to the cruel war now taking place in his country.
Oleksii’s death has consequences for the future of the war: on the West’s willingness to train pilots and provide F-16s; on domestic morale; and on how Ukrainian air power will be used going forward. But most of all it accents a single point that has echoed since February 2022: Ukraine is losing its very, very best.
Footsteps crunch along the path’s hot dry dirt, accompanied by grasshoppers chirping.
But no words are spoken.
Oleskii’s family has come to the grave. His brother, in military uniform, holds his face in his hands before kissing the gravestone. His sister, puffy-eyed, cast down her head, wrapped in a long black lace scarf that covers her hair.
Then she disappears.
She has fallen to her knees behind the gravestone, with her face in her hands.
The grave is only a few days old, and was not easy to find. The crash happened on Monday, but the government waited until after the burial to announce it, only revealing the news on Thursday.
Moonfish was killed while flying to protect the skies over Ukraine during the largest barrage of Russian attacks since the beginning of the invasion. Every single member of The Counteroffensive’s team heard the blasts that Moonfish was in the air trying to prevent.
Nor did the government say where he was buried. But using open source methods, our team was able to track it down: in the corner of one of the photos of his burial was the coat of arms for the town of Shepetivka. We immediately put a group together to learn more about this extraordinary man.
How he died is not clear yet. On Thursday Ukrainian Member of Parliament Mariana Bezuhla posted on Facebook saying that the F-16 was downed in a ‘friendly fire’ incident, when it collided with a Patriot missile because of improper coordination among Ukrainian forces.
“This is at least the third time that one of our manned aircraft has been shot down by our own [air defense]... And this time, [the Armed Forces of Ukraine] also tried to remain silent and hide the information, until it appeared in foreign sources.”
A Western official told the New York Times that there was some credibility to this, saying there were “indications” of friendly fire, although other causes have not been ruled out. The Ukrainian air force declined comment, directing The Counteroffensive to its public statement on the pilot’s death.
Although an investigation is still underway, President Zelenskyy fired the head of the Ukrainian air force over the past day, which suggests that the firing is over the F-16 crash.
Without Oleksii it’s possible there would never have been any F-16s to begin with.
The jets only arrived in Ukraine earlier this month. In the first summer of the war, back in 2022, Oleksii and his friend Andrii Pilshchykov, callsign Juice, went to the U.S. to push for more weapons for Ukraine. Their target: the F-16 fighter jet.
At the time, Oleksii’s mother, despite being quiet and reserved, could not hold back her shock: her son had really gone to the U.S. Congress.
Tetiana Pavlova, Oleksii’s teacher of foreign literature recalled a conversation with his mother:
"[Oleksii’s mother] said, ‘Can you imagine? Two regular guys, just two guys are sitting in front of these gray-haired men with all this power, and they were persuading them that Ukraine needs F-16s.’”
However, the initial pledges to provide F-16 only came the next summer. It was that summer, on August 25th 2023, that Andrii Pilshchykov – Juice – died in a plane crash during training.
One year and one day later, Oleksii was killed.
“After they [Andrii and Oleksii] studied together, they always worked together,” Andrii’s mother explained in a prior interview. “They had different personalities: Andrii was an extrovert, he had fantasy, Oleksii was quiet, he didn’t like to go out in front of people, but he was thorough and serious.”
Andrii had also been Oleksii’s best man at his wedding.
Oleskii’s family has declined to speak to journalists; they are not ready for words. But those at his local school – School Number 2 – wanted to provide testimony to the fallen pilot’s character. Oleksii’s own mother had been a staff member of the school.
Their father was a military man, and he was often away, so Oleksii and his siblings were always at the school, explained Tetiana Pavlova, who has been teaching at the school since 1985. “They basically grew up in our arms,” she continued.
Liudmyla Samoylovych, Oleksii’s history teacher, a vibrant woman with bright blue eyes, remembers Oleksii as the ideal student: “He was really gifted in every field… He was a perfectionist.”
But it wasn’t just his academic excellence which stuck with the teachers.
“He was like a magnet to everyone…He didn't like to be the center of attention, but at the same time, his behavior and knowledge showed that he was a leader, and other children respected his opinion,” Liudmyla remembered.
“The world should know there was this pilot and this person,” said Tetiana.
She continued after a pause: “It is crazy we have to say that he ‘was’ and not ‘is,’”
Despite his many talents, Oleksii found his calling early. When he was sixteen, he submitted a science project to a local competition, after which he spoke to Ukraine’s first astronaut, Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadeniuk.
“It was after this moment, he made the decision to be a military pilot,” Liudmyla said, with her blue eyes glistening with tears.
Right before the full-scale invasion, Tetiana Pavlova saw Oleksii and asked if he still liked his job as a pilot.
He looked at her, with a smile on his face.
"It's my thing,” he said.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
ZELENSKYY FIRES AIR FORCE CHIEF: An official order to dismiss the commander, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, was posted on the presidential website, per the AP. "We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, shortly after the order was posted.
COMPETING CLAIMS OVER CAUSE OF PILOT DEATH: Mariana Bezuhla, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament's defense committee, had claimed friendly fire by a Patriot missile battery was the cause of Moonfish's death.
Then-Air Force chief Oleshchuk countered that this was defamatory, and said he hoped the legislator would face legal consequences. Not long after, Oleshchuk was dismissed.
STATE OF F-16 TRANSFERS: Around 65 F-16s have been promised to Ukraine from its NATO partners, the BBC reports. The Aviationist, a leading military aviation blog, wrote that Ukraine is expected to receive up to 91 F-16s in multiple configurations.
COLOMBIANS WHO FOUGHT FOR UKRAINE JAILED IN MOSCOW: Two Colombians were traveling home via Caracas, Venezuela when they were intercepted and arrested. The Venezuelan authorities extradited the two men to Russia, which accused them of being illegal mercenaries. Politico said that it was Venezuela leader and Russia ally Nicolás Maduro’s "gift to Putin."
POLAND WON'T SHOOT DOWN RUSSIAN MISSILES: The deputy minister of defense of Poland, Pawel Zelwski, said that his country will not consider shooting down missiles or drones from within Polish borders. According to RMF 24, a Polish news site, he also dismissed the concept of having Polish trainers on Ukrainian territory, an idea that France and some northern European countries support.
DOG OF WAR:
We did not feel that it was appropriate to feature a dog today.
Instead, we are replacing it with a black banner, in honor of those who have lost their lives in the defense of their homes, their communities, and their families.
As a former F-14 pilot this story really resonated with me. Flying is always dangerous and flying F-16’s in Ukraine during the largest European war in 80 years is at the top of the dangerous list.
Operating a combat aircraft that is new to the battlefield is challenging for all those involved. For the pilot who is still learning its capabilities and limitations it is always a work in progress. If a pilot returns from a mission and can’t find ten things he has done wrong and could improve upon he is unaware.
The same can be said for those operating air defenses on the ground. They will learn from this and improve. While this is a tragedy lessons will be learned. Unfortunately those lessons are often written in blood.
Oleksii and Andrii exemplified patriotism and love for their countries. May them rest in peace and Putin and his goons be defeated.