Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the country's air force chief following a recent F-16 crash that has raised serious concerns about aviation safety.
At the beginning of the week, Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes lost his life protecting Ukraine's skies against a significant Russian aviation onslaught.
Mariana Bezuhla, a member of parliament from Ukraine, stated that a US Patriot missile struck the aircraft during friendly fire.
Mykola Oleschuk, the commander of the Air Force, retorted that her remarks were a "tool to discredit the top military leadership".
However, the Air Force did not explicitly refute that a Patriot missile struck the F-16.
Lt. Gen. Oleshchuk has been sacked by Zelenskyy, and US experts are supporting the crash probe.
The directive was made available on the president's website.
"We need to protect people. Protect personnel,” minutes after the directive was released, Mr. Zelenskyy stated in a speech, adding, "Take care of all our soldiers."
He continued by saying that Ukraine's army's command structure needs to be strengthened.
The army's general staff announced the appointment of Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko as acting commander of the air force.
