Ukrainian Air Force Confirms Death of US Serviceman in Su-27 Crash

Sputnik News

13:41 17.10.2018(updated 13:46 17.10.2018)

KIEV (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian Air Force has confirmed that a member of the US Air National Guard was among two crew members who died in a recent crash of a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet in the Vinnytsia Region in west-central Ukraine.

"The second crewman [of the crashed fighter jet] was a serviceman of the US Air National Guard," the Ukrainian Air Force press center said in a statement.

On October 16, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff reported the crash of the Su-27 fighter jet in the Vinnytsia Region. According to the Ukrainian military, both pilots – Ukrainian and US servicemen – died as a result of the incident.

The Ukrainian General Staff then removed the mention of the US serviceman from the statement, while the US Air Force acknowledged that a US service member "was involved in this incident."

The plane crashed at around 2:00 p.m. GMT in the Vinnytsia region in west-central Ukraine while performing a flight as part of the Clear Sky 2018 drills, the Ukrainian military prosecutor's office said in a statement.

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