A U.S. serviceman was killed in Ukraine on Tuesday when a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet crashed during large-scale training exercises in the embattled former Soviet republic.
The Ukrainian military issued a statement that said both pilots — one Ukrainian, one American — were killed when the jet crashed in the Vinnytsia region, about 140 miles southwest of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital.
“We are sad to report that according to the search-and-rescue group, the bodies of two pilots were found,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a statement posted to its website.
The pilots were taking part in a “training and combat flight” as part of multinational military exercises with the United States and seven other NATO countries. The exercises, called Clear Sky-2018, include members of the California’s National Guard’s Fresno-based 144th Fighter Wing group, according to a Facebook post. The post showed F-15C Eagle fighter jets arriving in western Ukraine a week ago.
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