Zelenskyy dismisses Mykola Oleshchuk from his position as Commander of the Air Force

In decree No. 600, published on the President's Office website on the evening of Friday, August 30, it was announced that Mykola Oleshchuk has been dismissed from the position of Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Oleshchuk has led the Air Force since August 9, 2021.

Later, President Zelenskyy commented on Oleshchuk's dismissal:

"I decided to replace the Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I am immensely grateful to all our military pilots, engineers, members of mobile fire groups, and air defense crews. To everyone who is truly fighting for Ukraine—fighting for results. And this is needed at the command level as well—we must strengthen ourselves. And protect people. Protect the personnel. Protect all our warriors," he said in an evening address.

What preceded

On August 29, media reports began circulating about an F-16 fighter jet crashing in Ukraine. RBC-Ukraine reached out to the Air Force for a comment, but they neither confirmed nor denied the information.

Later, the Air Force reported the death of pilot Oleksiy Mes, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces confirmed the loss of the F-16.

Today, Oleshchuk made a statement regarding the F-16 crash that occurred on August 26 during a major shelling of Ukraine. He stated that higher command received a report about the crash. Additionally, a preliminary report was sent to the United States and other partners, who have joined the investigation into the cause of the crash.

Yesterday, MP Maryana Bezuhla claimed to have information about the F-16 crash. According to her, the fighter jet "was shot down by a Patriot missile system due to a lack of coordination between units."

Today, she criticized Oleshchuk for his "silence" and asserted that this was allegedly "at least the third case" where Ukrainian aircraft were downed by their own air defense systems (ADS).