Pilot with the call sign "JUICE" passed away as a result of a plane crash that occurred on August 25th in the skies of Zhytomyr Region west of Kyiv, the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports in an official note. Two L-39 combat-trainer aircraft collided in the air during a combat sortie, all three pilots died.
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Investigation is underway, the officials say. The names of the other two pilots were not disclosed. Preliminary, the case is qualified as an accident.
Among them, the pilot from the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade JUICE was the most famous for defending the airspace during the battle for Kyiv in the early weeks of the russian full-scale invasion, and for his multiple interviews to the abroad media.
One of those interviews became a subject of discussion in our article at Defense Express, in which JUICE explained how difficult it was to take down Shahed-136 drones. He is also known for the video appeal recorded in April 2022: he called on the West to provide F-16 multirole fighters to Ukraine.
Just a week ago, the Netherlands was the first to commit to sending F-16 to the Ukrainian Air Force, soon followed by Denmark and Norway.
Defense Express would like to offer our condolences to the family and friends of the three deceased defenders of Ukraine.
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