Russia launches largest air assault on Ukraine; F-16 jet destroyed

Kyiv: Russia carried out its largest-ever aerial assault on Ukraine last night using drones and missiles, during which a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was also destroyed while attempting to intercept the attack.

Citing the Ukrainian military, US media reported that Russia used a total of 537 drones and missiles in the assault. Of these, 249 were successfully intercepted, while the rest vanished from radar.

According to the Ukrainian military, multiple cities were targeted in the Russian attack, resulting in damage to civilian infrastructure and leaving several people injured.

During the interception operation, a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet crashed and was destroyed, leading to the death of the pilot.

The military stated that the pilot had successfully targeted seven aerial threats during the Russian attack but was killed when the aircraft was destroyed while engaging the final target.

According to a foreign news agency, Ukraine began using US-made F-16 jets last year, and so far three of them have been destroyed. It remains unclear how many F-16s Ukraine currently has in its fleet.