In a reversal, two senior U.S. military officials say the cause of the F-16’s crash was probably not friendly fire.According to The New York Times, two senior U.S. military officials have reversed their initial belief that the cause of the F-16’s crash was friendly fire. Instead, they now believe that the crash was not caused by friendly fire.

On Monday, as hundreds of Russian missiles and drones flew over Ukraine, Ukrainian fighter pilot Lt. Col. Oleksiy Mes was in the cockpit of an F-16, chasing after the enemy. Mes had previously expressed his admiration for the F-16, calling it a “Swiss Army knife” that could handle any mission. He was one of the pilots trained to fly the F-16 in combat, and was instrumental in securing the fighter jets for Ukraine.

During Monday’s assault, Mes successfully shot down three Russian cruise missiles and one attack drone. However, while attempting to intercept another target, ground control lost communication with his aircraft. The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that the plane had crashed and the pilot had died.

The death of Mes, a highly respected and celebrated pilot, and the loss of one of the coveted F-16s, has cast a shadow over the battlefield. This comes at a time when the initial excitement of the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is fading and concerns are growing over a potential Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

In response to the incident, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the head of the country’s Air Force and promised a thorough investigation. There have been suggestions that the crash may have been caused by friendly fire from a Patriot missile battery, but this has not been confirmed.

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