Kyiv may use more high-risk tactics due to lack of air defences

4/7/2025 6:19

The death of an experienced

Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot in battle against Russian drones

shows the high-risk tactics Kyiv will increasingly adopt if it

is unable to obtain critical new air defences, a senior

commander said on Thursday.



Dozens of people have been killed during intensifying

Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, a trend

officials have said will worsen if Kyiv's allies do not step up

supplies of critical munitions.



Oleh Zakharchuk, deputy commander of Ukraine's western air

command, delivered the warning just days after the Pentagon said

it was pausing some supplies of arms Ukraine needs to defend its

cities.



"Everyone must understand that there is no such thing as

enough weapons," he said at the funeral for fighter pilot Maksym

Ustymenko at the golden-domed St Michael's Monastery and

Cathedral in Kyiv.



"If we cannot use the missiles because we do not get them,

then it will be very difficult."



Ustymenko was killed on June 29 after shooting down seven

Russian Shahed drones during a massive air strike that included

hundreds of drones as well as missiles.



Zakharchuk said the pilot first dispatched all the jet's

air-to-air missiles, then resorted to firing his plane's

cannons, which the commander described as a riskier tactic

because it requires Ukrainian pilots to get close to the drones.



"If we do not shoot down a Shahed and it falls on a

settlement, on a building and people die, what should we

choose?" he said. "Of course, we choose to destroy air targets

despite how difficult and risky it is."



The held-up U.S. package includes missiles carried by the

F-16s.



On Thursday, at least four people were killed in separate

Russian air strikes on Poltava in central Ukraine and the

southern port of Odesa.



The Pentagon's pause, a decision it said was made to

conserve U.S. stockpiles, also included precision munitions

Ukraine needs to fend off Russian advances on the battlefield.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday

that he hoped to talk with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on

Friday or in coming days about the decision.







HONOURED IN CENTRAL KYIV



Mourners descended on St. Michael's to honor Ustymenko,

whose coffin was later carried to Independence Square in a

sombre procession.



Fighter pilots are typically revered in Ukraine for their

role in fending off the increasingly heavy waves of air strikes

that Russia has launched against Ukrainian towns and cities

since late 2022.



Ustymenko was among the first 12 pilots to train on the

prized American-made fighter, which Kyiv began deploying last

August, deputy Air Force commander Serhiy Holubtsov said at the

ceremony.



Zakharchuk said Ustymenko had logged hundreds of hours on

Soviet-era aircraft before transitioning to the F-16. He also

tested Gripen fighter jets in Sweden.