Kyiv bid farewell on 3 July to Hero of Ukraine Maksym Ustymenko, an F-16 pilot killed in action during a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine.

Source : Suspilne, a Ukrainian public broadcaster

Details : Suspilne noted that Ustymenko was one of 15 graduates in 2016, when Ukraine was able to graduate a brigade of pilots of MiG-29 fighters and Su-25 attack aircraft for the first time.

"I know each of those fifteen," says Brigadier General Serhii Holubtsov, Deputy Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force. "Unfortunately, six of them have been killed in action. Maksym will be buried in Kyiv Oblast, where his family lives. He had recently purchased a home there, but a few months ago, a Shahed attack drone flew into that very garden. This new home, which he had dreamed of, was destroyed."

Ustymenko was also among the first 12 pilots to undergo training on the F-16 fighter jets and flew one from the summer of 2024.

"He mastered the aircraft very quickly," Holubtsov added. "Before that, he tested the Swedish Gripen, completing 13 sorties in Sweden. Overall, he was a first-class pilot."

Suspilne noted that the F-16 fighter jet piloted by Maksym had shot down seven Shahed drones during a Russian large-scale attack on 29 June 2025. An investigation will reveal exactly what happened then.

"There were a lot of targets in the air that needed to be destroyed," said Brigadier General Oleh Zakharchuk, Deputy Commander of Air Command Zakhid (West). "I am convinced that if he had even one chance to survive, he would have taken it. The jet was damaged and had to be diverted away from a populated area while maintaining controllability. It's very difficult, but Maksym did it."

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon !