as reported during our live stream episode two days ago Ukraine's Air Force used f-16s as part of its defense against Russia's Mass missile and drone attack on August 26th the first operational involvement of that aircraft in the war Russia launched 236 missiles and drones making it the largest attack on Ukraine since the war started 2 and A2 years ago Ukraine managed to down 102 missiles and 99 drones of those fired four of them were shot down by the f-16s using A9 Mike Sidewinder heat seeking missiles Ukrainian president zilinsky told reporters that the f-16s gave a very good result and he added we thank our partners for providing us with the f-16s of course this is not enough we don't have many of them and we still need to train Pilots now president zelinsky's concern is even more serious subsequent to our live stream on August 28th we learned that one of the f-16s involved in the mission to stop Russian weapons from hitting Ukrainian targets crashed the pilot was Lieutenant Colonel Alexi mes call sign MoonFish a Ukrainian military Source stated during the approach to the next Target communication with one of the aircraft was lost as it turned out later the plane crashed the pilot died while no details of the crash were provided the source did state that MoonFish was not hit by enemy fire MoonFish was one of the main Ukrainian Air Force pilots who lobbied the West to give them f-16s the other pilot involved in that effort was Andre pikov call sign juice who was killed flying a mig29 during a combat Mission a year ago MoonFish credited Juice's unwavering motivation for the Ukrainian Air Force getting f-16s saying Andre was the ideas man and the main driving force behind it all MoonFish was also realistic about the fact that the training that he and the others received was truncated he told CNN during a rare interview a few months ago we would have had a lot of time to study the jet completely in peacetime we do not have that time Moon fish's death leaves the Ukrainian Air Force currently with only five 16 Pilots with the minimum amount of training to enter combat as discussed in the most recent episode with military Aviation expert Justin Bron the training track for Ukrainian Pilots is being established in several locations across NATO countries in Earnest but it takes time as the F-16 cockpit has a significantly different layout than the mig29 the Ukrainian Pilots are familiar with and effectively employing the F-16 with the rest of the Ukrainian Air Force and the other systems that have been donated by the Us and other NATO Nations is complicated as we've mentioned several times before ke has been promised at least 79 f-16s from the Netherlands Denmark Norway and Belgium right now they've reportedly received 10 Jets and expect to have 20 by the end of the year and now that roster is down by one as a result of moon fish's crash flying tactical Jets is always a dangerous business not to mention during wartime and losses like this can be expected for this Channel's part we salute MoonFish for his motivation and efforts that resulted in the arrival of the first f-16s in the Ukrainian Air Force's inventory and the courage he demonstrated by taking that fighter into combat make no mistake the F-16 in significant numbers has the potential to turn the tide of this conflict when employed in concert with Ukraine's other existing and emerging capabilities MoonFish will not have died in vain in the meantime may his sacrifice serve as resolve for the Squadron mates he left behind Slava ukraini all right that'll do it for this episode if you're not already a subscriber become one so you don't miss anything going forward in the meantime I look forward to talking to you again very soon [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]