for air defence, for interception of cruise missiles. illia ponomarenko is a ukrainianjournalist in kyiv, and explained how important captain andrii pilshchykov had been to ukraine s military effort. it s a painful loss also because andii was a symbol. he was a very symbolic person, a very intelligent person, a very bright one. a frontman of the air force, and without even revealing his face to the public in the media. he was a young pilot, handsome guy, a playboy, the one with a top gun style instagram, very colourful person, ver proud, very willing to argue with command, active on social media, never hesitating to blast journalists. very proud.
face to face air battle, air engagement, ourjets have almost no chances to win. we were pushing them away, because they were forced to avoid us, and they were trying to get russianjets in the bubbles of our air defence, and they shooted them down. but russians are improving their tactics, and we need something more advanced than ourjets, for air defence, for interception of cruise missiles. andrii pilshchykov speaking to the bbc last year. that interview was carried out by our bbc ukrainian reporter zhanna bezpiatchuk. i spoke to her a little earlier and asked her for her thoughts on captain pilshchykov. he s really a unique fighter pilot and unique officer in the ukrainian army.
attack, a bomb on board? was this some kind of other sabotage? we don t know. the kremlin has said, this is nothing to do with us, we weren t behind this. that denial though has not removed the widespread suspicion that mr prigozhin, the wagner chief, was targeted by russian authorities as an act of revenge for the mutiny which he organised back injune, and which was an unprecedented challenge to the kremlin. interesting, this statement that came out from russian investigators today, a very brief statement, just three sentences mr prigozhin was not mentioned by name, but the implication of what was written was pretty clear, that, as far as the russian authorities are concerned, mr prigozhin is dead. meanwhile, one of ukraine s most celebrated fighter pilots, and two other airmen, have been killed in a mid air crash. captain andrii pilshchykov won fame taking part in close range aerial battles over kyiv during the early phase of russia s invasion,
it was a dream from childhood. it s myjob, my mission. intercepting cruise missiles, your mission is to save lives from the ground, save the city. you are not able, is a terrible feeling that somebody will die, somebody will die in minutes and you didn t prevent it. mr pilshchykov was speaking to bbc ukraine s zhanna bezpiatchuk in that interview. we can go to her in kyiv now. how important a figure was he in ukraine? he was really unique in the ukrainian army. his story is extraordinary because he became the
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