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cailianshe news, august 30 (editor: shi zhengcheng)on thursday local time, multiple media outlets quoted u.s. and ukrainian officials as saying:one of the first batch of f-16 fighter jets delivered to ukraine earlier this month has already crashed。

as background, ukrainian president zelensky held a press conference at a secret location in early august to officially announce the receipt of the first batch of f-16 fighter jets donated by nato countries. since the outbreak of the russian-ukrainian conflict in 2022, zelensky has repeatedly requested western allies to provide this fighter jet, and it was not until last summer that the united states finally agreed to release it.

(source: zelensky social media)

zelensky confirmed at the time that nato allies had pledged to send 80 f-16 fighter jets, but he also admitted that ukraine currently had insufficient fighter jets and insufficient pilots to be trained.

although the official did not disclose the number of fighter jets delivered to ukraine, us officials revealed thatthe first batch of f-16 fighter jets delivered to ukraine totaled 6, corresponding to 6 ukrainian pilots who had completed training. therefore, the crash was obviously a major blow to ukraine.

there are different opinions on the cause of the crash

according to u.s. and ukrainian officials,the f-16 fighter jet crashed on monday while responding to a large-scale russian air strike. the pilot, who had just completed training and returned to ukraine earlier this month, was also killed.

ukraine previously confirmed that during a large-scale russian air strike on monday, it dispatched f-16 fighter jets and "successfully shot down a cruise missile from russia."

the u.s.'s initial analysis shows thatthe jet fighter was not shot down by russian firepower, the cause of the crash was most likely pilot error。

a ukrainian defense ministry source said the pilot, oleksiy mes, was killed while "resisting the largest russian airstrike in ukraine's history" and was buried on thursday. the source added:the ukrainian military does not believe that the incident was caused by pilot error.the accident requires further investigation, and international experts will be invited to participate.

it is reported that after the united states approved the netherlands, denmark and other countries to provide f-16 fighter jets to ukraine last year, the first batch of ukrainian pilots began to go to the united states for training last fall.generally speaking, it takes several years for pilots from western countries to fully master the skills of flying the f-16, but ukrainian pilots must complete the "crash course" training within 9 months.

it is worth mentioning thaton wednesday, ukrainian officials publicly mourned the death of metz.since he was one of the first ukrainian f-16 pilots, speculation about the crash of the fighter jet was raised. so thursday's news was more of a confirmation of this news.

(photo of oleksi metz before his death, source: social media)

the symbolic significance is greater than the actual combat effectiveness

according to nato's coordination, belgium, denmark, the netherlands and norway have promised to provide ukraine with the f-16 fighter jets that zelensky has been longing for. although this fighter jet, which has served nato countries for nearly half a century, has a strong symbolic significance, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on changing the situation on the russian-ukrainian battlefield.

first,western countries are not transferring fighter jets quickly, previous reports predicted that the number would not exceed 20 within the year. another reason isukrainian pilots all take a crash course in fighter jets, it is difficult to expect super performance. in addition, fighter jets also require a large number of maintenance, ammunition management and intelligence analysts. at the same time, because the air intake of the f-16 is close to the runway, there are also requirements for the hardware of the take-off and landing airport.

as for the role of these aircraft, federico bosari, an analyst at the center for european policy analysis in washington, interpreted thatthe f-16 can be used to intercept missiles and drones, suppress the opponent's air defense system, and launch air-to-ground missiles to carry out strike missions.at the same time, having their own fighter jets overhead will also boost the morale of the ukrainian army. however, bosali also emphasized that considering that the opponent is russia, sending f-16s to the front line to support the battle is still too risky.

roughly estimated,the f-16 flying to the front line of the russian-ukrainian battlefield may have to face mobile surface-to-air missile systems composed of s-300 and s-400, hundreds of russian fighter jets including su-35, and various advanced radar surveillance systems.

in addition, due to the important symbolic significance of the f-16 fighter jets to ukraine and nato, destroying these fighter jets in any way will become a highlight moment for the russian army.

kremlin spokesman peskov previously confirmed thatrussian authorities will offer rewards to soldiers who destroy f-16s。