Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv loses first F-16 donated by Western allies as star Ukrainian pilot killed

The IAEA has urged both sides to refrain from fighting around nuclear plants to avoid a catastrophic incident, and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said after visiting Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant on Tuesday that there was a risk of a nuclear accident there.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday it had struck electricity substations in nine Ukrainian regions and gas compressor stations in three regions.

Ukrainian officials have said Ukraine has lost about half its power generating capacity during the war, and most of its power needs are now covered by electricity produced by three Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the Europe’s largest, is occupied by Russian forces and out of operation.

The Russian military said on Thursday it had thwarted an overnight attack on Crimea.

The Russian defence ministry said its forces destroyed three Ukrainian sea drones aimed at the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev added that four Ukrainian aerial drones and three sea drones were destroyed “at a significant distance” from the peninsula’s shore.

Ukraine has not acknowledged the reports, and there is typically a time lag between its attacks on Russian-held territory and any confirmation.

Ukraine’s Army General Staff did acknowledge on Thursday its involvement in strikes this week on oil depots deep inside Russia, where a number of fires broke out.

The attacks in the Rostov and Kirov regions were part of Ukraine’s effort to disrupt logistical infrastructure supporting Russia’s war machine.

One month on from President Zelensky’s Russian incursion began, Mary Dejevsky asks whether it is a strategic game-changer as a powerful bargaining chip – or simply a defensive move to prevent a direct march on Kyiv.

Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16 fighter jets to neutralise Russian air power, Kyiv officials say.

US officials told the Associated Press at the end of last month that the first of a batch of F-16s promised by European countries had arrived in Ukraine.

Military analysts have said their arrival won’t be a game-changer in the war, given Russia’s massive air force and sophisticated air defence systems. But Ukrainian officials welcomed them as offering an opportunity to hit back at Russia’s air superiority.

Ukraine has until now been using Soviet-era warplanes, and its pilots underwent intense training on the F-16s in the West for months. The usual training period is three years.

US president Joe Biden granted authorisation in August 2023 for the US-built warplanes to be sent to Ukraine. That came after months of pressure from Kyiv and internal debate in the US administration where officials feared the move could escalate tensions with the Kremlin.

The F-16s can fly up to twice the speed of sound and have a maximum range of more than 3,200km.

“They will be able to affect some of the dynamics of the war,” Federico Borsari, an analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis, earlier told The Independent.

The jets can help to intercept Russian missiles and drones, suppress enemy air defence systems, and strike Russian troop positions and ammunition depots with air-to-ground missiles, Mr Borsari said. Russia has stepped up drone and missile attacks across Ukraine in recent months.

The plane’s advanced radars – fitted by Lockheed Martin – allow Ukrainian pilots to pinpoint targets further away than they can in their current Soviet-era MiG-29s, Su-27s and Su-24s.

They can also fire modern weapons used by Nato countries and carry British-supplied Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles with a range of more than 250km, potentially striking targets inside Russia.

Information on the specific capabilities of the F-16s provided to Ukraine has not been made public, however.

A Russian drone and missile attack on Monday forced Ukraine to disconnect several nuclear power units from the grid, posing a risk to the sector as a whole, the Ukrainian mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Russia used more than 200 missiles and drones in Monday’s attack on energy facilities, Ukrainian officials said.

“The Russian Federation continues to deliberately target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, intending to disrupt the operation of the country’s nuclear power plants, which provide most of Ukraine’s electricity,” the Ukrainian mission to the UN nuclear watchdog said in a note on Thursday.

“Russian attacks pose a significant risk to the stable operation of nuclear facilities in Ukraine and the safety of millions of people.”

Colonel Alexei “Moonfish” Mes, a highly experienced Ukrainian pilot, has been killed in the crash of an F-16 fighter jet on Monday.

He “saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles, unfortunately, at the cost of [his] own life,” said the Ukrainian air force in a tribute on Facebook.

Moonfish and a fellow Ukrainian pilot, Andrii “Juice” Pilshchykov, made an early, public visit to the US in June 2022 to press lawmakers and media to send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets and they both continued to serve as public faces for Ukraine’s battle to secure its airspace. Juice was killed in an August 2023 accident.

“When I met with Ukraine pilots Juice and Moonfish I had a sick feeling they wouldn’t make it through the war,” former US congressman Adam Kingzinger posted on X. “They fought like hell for Ukraine, and the F16.”

Russia is still struggling to dislodge Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, a surprisingly slow and low-key response to the first occupation of its territory since World War II.

After a three-week struggle, it all comes down to Russian manpower and Russian priorities.

With the bulk of its military pressing offensives inside Ukraine, the Kremlin appears to lack enough reserves for now to drive out Kyiv‘s forces.