CNN
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Ukrainian forces said on Sunday that a Ukrainian pilot was killed and that F-16 fighters crashed after Russia launched a massive air attack that included hundreds of drones and missile scores overnight.
The Airman, who was named first-class Lieutenant Colonel Maxim Ustimenko by the Ukrainian Air Force, is the third F-16 pilot since the Ukrainians began flying the Jets last summer, and his plane has been lost to the fourth F-16 Ukraine since.
The Air Force said Ustymenko “doed everything he could to keep the aircraft away from the most populated areas, but he didn’t have time to leave.”
Ustimenko’s death is a huge loss for Ukraine. Only a few of the country’s top pilots are trained to fly the most advanced F-16s of Ukrainian fighter jets. The training is very specialized and takes several months to complete.
Ukrainian President Voldymir Zelensky said he had slapped seven targets before Ustimenko was killed, and praised him and the Ukrainian Air Force for “heroic protection” the country’s air.
Zelensky said Moscow had launched 477 drones and 60 missiles to six different locations overnight until Sunday. This is one of Russia’s biggest air attacks in terms of deployed weapons, according to CNN Tally.
Russia has intensified its air attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, launching hundreds of drones and missiles almost every night.
These attacks are bigger and less frequent. It also runs more intensively and makes combat much more difficult. This is because they fly at a higher altitude, which is out of reach of machine guns.
Zelensky said on Sunday that over 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones and nearly 1,100 gliding bombs were launched by Russia against Ukraine this week.
Ukrainian leaders have pleaded with Kiev’s western allies to continue attacking Ukraine as much as possible, and to provide more air defenses to his country.
“This war must end. We need pressure on the invaders, we need protection. We need ballistics and other missiles, drones and fear,” Zelensky said.
He added that Ukraine is ready to buy the “American System” to enhance air defense. This is a clear call to President Donald Trump and his administration to enable Ukraine to purchase patriot air defense systems.
Patriots are widely considered to be one of the best air defense systems. There are other systems manufactured by several other Ukraine allies, but there is no match for the Patriots when it comes to protection against advanced high-tholic and ballistic missiles.
Ukraine is known to have around half a dozen of American-made patriot air defense systems, although the exact number and location are secretly protected.
Patriots play an important role in Ukraine’s air defense, protecting millions of civilians from Russian missiles. However, as Trump continues to threaten to withdraw US aid from Ukraine, Kiev risks running out of missiles in these systems.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it had defeated 211 drones and 38 missiles that Moscow launched overnight on Sunday. The Russian strikes were recorded in six locations, adding that debris were reported in eight locations.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the strike targeted Ukraine’s “military industrial facilities and oil refineries,” but Ukrainians said civilian infrastructure objects had been attacked.
Local officials said in an update on Sunday that at least 11 people were injured in a Russian attack in Smira city in the central region of Cherkassy.
Three nine-story buildings, private homes and cars were significantly damaged by artillery fire, said Ihor Taburets, head of four educational institutions and psychiatric hospitals, Cherkasy Regional Military Regime.
Landmines Questions
Also on Sunday, Zelensky announced that he had signed a law to remove Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention.
It is a long-standing move by Ukraine, and the withdrawal must be approved by the Ukrainian Parliament. Kyiv has long argued that it cannot continue to be a member of the treaty as its attacker, Russia, uses landmines in its territory.
“This is a step that has long been demanded by the reality of war. Russia will not use the party of this treaty, but mines against our military and civilians on a large scale. We cannot be bound by the enemy without restrictions.”
According to the United Nations, Ukraine is the heaviest mined country in the world. Russia uses mines extensively on Ukrainian territory, but a 2023 report from Human Rights Watch found that Ukraine also uses anti-pannel mines. The US under Biden administration approved landmines cargo to Ukraine in November last year.
Large strips of Ukrainian land, especially along the eastern frontlines and areas once occupied by Russia, are out-of-limit to civilians due to the mines. Makeshift signs and barriers warn people not to enter is a common sight at the edge of fields, forests, and near roads.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said the country “has made a difficult but necessary political decision” to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, and that the government is “confident” that it needs to do so.
Earlier this year, the agreement had 165 member states, but several major powers, including Russia, China, India, Pakistan and the US, have never signed it.
Finland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania all acted as Russian border border borders and withdraw from treaties that they argued to be essential to their defense.
