Maksym Ustimenko’s aircraft shot down seven air targets before losing altitude and crashing, the air force says.
Ukraine has lost an F-16 aircraft and its pilot while repelling a Russian missile and drone strike, according to the war-torn country’s air force.
After shooting down seven air targets, the plane was damaged and lost altitude overnight, the Ukrainian military said in a statement published on Telegram on Sunday.
“This night, while repelling a massive enemy air attack, a pilot of the 1st class, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16 aircraft,” it said.
In a separate statement, the air force said Russia launched 537 projectiles against Ukraine, including Shahed drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 475 of them.
According to the Kyiv Independent newspaper, the sound of explosions and strikes was reported in multiple areas across the country, including in southern Mykolaiv, southeastern Zaporizhia and western Lviv.
Residents stand in front of their apartment building damaged during Russian drone and missile strikes in Smila, Cherkasy region [Handout/Press service of Ukrainian police in Cherkasy via Reuters]
Ihor Taburets, the governor of central Ukraine’s Cherkasy region, said at least six people were injured and civilian infrastructure was damaged in attacks. Three multistorey buildings and a college were damaged in the attack, he said.
Industrial facilities were hit in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, officials say. Local authorities published photos of high-rise residential buildings with charred walls and broken windows, and rescuers evacuating people.
In Russia, the Ministry of Defence said its forces destroyed three Ukrainian drones in the border regions of Kursk and Rostov, and in Ukraine’s annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The latest wave of violence comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he intended to scale back military expenditure and also indicated he was ready for a new round of peace negotiations with Ukraine.
In the past months, Moscow and Kyiv have sent delegations twice to the Turkish city of Istanbul for peace talks, but have made no progress towards ending the conflict, which started after Russia invaded its neighbour more than three years ago.
However, both sides agreed upon and showed cooperation on prisoners’ swap.
