An F-16 fighter jet crashed on a frontline mission with its pilot ejecting safely, Ukraine’s air force announced on Wednesday. The aircraft was on duty intercepting Russian airborne targets when it malfunctioned. The pilot was found safe and taken for medical treatment. Experts were examining the crash site. Ukraine has received F-16s from Nato countries including the Netherlands and Denmark.
The director and founder of a Russian drone manufacturer was shot and wounded early on Wednesday in what prosecutors described as an “attempted murder”. Andrei Cherezov is head of the Russian Air Transport Laboratory, most famous for developing the “Ovod” family of combat drones. Cherezov was returning home from work at about 1am when he was attacked by an unknown assailant in Tula, about 150km (90 miles) south of Moscow, Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported.
Ukrainian forces hit two of Russia’s biggest oil refineries over Tuesday night: a Lukoil refinery in Russia’s Perm region, more than 1,500km (900 miles) from Ukraine, and a refinery in Ryazan, about 400km (180 miles) from the border. Ukraine’s security service and military general staff announced the strikes. The refineries have a combined annual production capacity of around 220m barrels of oil, according to Ukraine. The Russian online retailer Wildberries, which Ukraine has targeted in recent days, said it evacuated employees from a facility in Ryazan.
