The death of the F-16 pilot: what is known so far

On the night of 29 June, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko, born in 1993, a 1st class pilot and F-16 pilot, was killed while repelling a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Ukrainian towns. He managed to pull the aircraft away from the populated area. This is reported by the air forces of the AFU in Telegram.

As indicated in the AFU, last night during the attack of the Russian Federation he took part in the defence of the sky and while working off the last Russian target, Ustimenko's plane was damaged and began to lose altitude. The pilot did his best and steered the machine away from the populated area, but did not manage to save his life.

He died like a Hero! Eternal flight, brother, you did your best! - noted in the Air Force.

At night, all available air defence forces, including F-16 fighters, were deployed to repel the massive Russian attack. Ukrainian pilots shot down dozens of chahid drones. The Air Force stressed that such sorties are very dangerous - both when striking enemy ground targets and defending the skies. Despite the risks, the pilots continue to fulfil their tasks with true heroism.

It is known that Maxim Ustimenko was a classmate of another Ukrainian pilot, Andriy (Jus) Pilshchikov, who was killed two years ago. According to Jus' mother Liliya Averyanova, Maksym was a "guy of steel" who "always strived to be the best".

He was the superintellect of the group, a great I.T. guy. But he had big, strong wings. Big responsibility. Great dedication. He should become a Marshal of Aviation," Averyanova wrote.

The wife of another Ukrainian pilot, Oleksiy Mesya (Munfish), said Ustymenko was left with a 4-year-old son.

President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot and ordered to find out all the circumstances of his death.

Zelensky noted that Ukraine sounded the alarm almost all night - there were 477 drones in the sky, most of them Russian-Iranian "shaheds", and 60 missiles of different types. He added that the Russian army was on everything that provides life. In particular, there are hits and on a residential house in Smela, a child was wounded.

Unfortunately, reflecting the attack, our F-16 pilot Maxim Ustimenko died. Today he destroyed seven air targets. My condolences to his family and colleagues. I instructed to find out all the circumstances of the death," the President stressed.

He added that the Ukrainian aviation heroically protects the sky and thanked everyone who defends Ukraine.

In total, during the night strike, the Russian Federation used more than 500 targets against Ukraine. Air defence destroyed 475 (249 shot down by fire, 226 were locally lost). The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, REB and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defence Forces. Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhya, Poltava, Lviv, Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under attack. The Russians hit critical infrastructure and homes.

Recall that in August 2024, Ukraine lost F-16s for the first time. It happened during the reflection of a massive Russian attack on 26 August. The Ukrainian F-16 was shooting down enemy targets and lost communication when it went in for a new target. As a result, the F-16 fighter jet crashed and pilot Oleksiy Mes ("Munfish") was killed.

Also in April, 26-year-old Pavel Ivanov was killed while flying an F-16 on a combat mission.