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“Moonfish” and “Juice” met with lawmakers and appeared on US television with actor Sean Penn to support their cause. Both fighter pilots are now dead.
Mays’ funeral was held as part of a day of remembrance in his hometown of Shepetivka in western Ukraine, attended by hundreds of people, with his coffin draped with the Ukrainian flag and surrounded by flowers and grieving relatives.
A Ukrainian MP told The Daily Telegraph that Mase’s death was a tragedy for both his countrymen and Kiev’s military.
“He was one of those who advocated the importance of providing Ukraine with modern aircraft,” Oleksiy Goncharenko said.
“He and another top pilot went to the United States to meet with members of Congress and convince them of the need to buy F-16s.
“Eventually, he became one of the first Ukrainian pilots to receive F-16 training. This is undoubtedly a huge loss for Ukraine in general and the Air Force in particular.”
The exact circumstances of Mays’ death are unclear, but early investigations suggest his F-16 fighter jet was shot down by a U.S.-made Patriot, one of the world’s most advanced air defense systems, during a Russian missile and drone attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the head of the air force late Friday over the incident.
The star pilot’s death, and the loss of the $20m (£15m-$70m) F-16 jet, marks a major setback for Ukraine, which has spent two years begging Western allies for US-made warplanes to help it resist a Russian attack.
Although a fully operational squadron requires 40 pilots and 20 F-16 aircraft, a U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has only received six F-16s so far and has only six pilots trained to fly them.
At the funeral, two MiG-29 fighter jets flown by Mays’ former comrades performed a low-altitude flyby in honor of the fallen pilot.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posthumously awarded Mays the rank of Colonel.
Friend Tetiana Shevchuk wrote: “Oleksiy was a model pilot. He was always an excellent student, always first, always the best.”
Describing the circumstances of its death, Ukraine’s western air force command said MES destroyed “three cruise missiles and one attack drone”.
The letter also stated that he “fought valiantly in his last battle in the sky… unfortunately, it cost him his life”.
The command continued: “Oleksei Mays was a strong and loyal soldier, a senior pilot, a leader on the ground and in the sky, a good friend, a loving son, father, husband and patriot.”
Joe Biden approved sending F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine in August 2023. Later that month, the 11-nation coalition began training a handful of Ukrainian pilots, including Mays, to fly the aircraft.
Mays admitted that the training schedule was “too tight” and said there were some difficulties in adapting to Western aircraft.
He told Ukrainian media that transitioning from Soviet-style jets to Western-style jets was like “going directly from a Nokia phone to an iPhone without going through any steps in between.”
Earlier this month, Zelensky said a total of 80 F-16s would be delivered in the coming years, while more pilots were being trained to fly them.
The head of the Dutch military and the Danish prime minister have both said Ukraine can use F-16 fighter jets to attack Russia without restrictions.
However, due to the risks posed by Russian surface-to-air missile systems, they are unlikely to be used in combat operations close to the front lines.
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