One of Ukraine’s top fighter
pilots has been killed in combat, according to a Facebook post by his former
colleagues in Ivano-Frankivsk in the western part of the country. Captain Anton
Lystopad was awarded the title of the best pilot of the Ukrainian air force in
2019, according to a report in Newsweek. Captain Lystopad is the latest
soldier of Ukraine’s armed forces to die in the war that has been going on for
nearly six months over Russia’s insistence to stop its neighbour from joining the US-led military alliance.
In the Facebook post, the
Physics and Technical Lyceum of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council said,
“Anton Lystopad, a graduate of the Physics and Technical Lyceum, died
defending the Ukrainian state.”
The post further said that
Captain Lystopad studied at the lyceum from 2005 to 2008.
Just days before his death,
the fighter pilot was honoured by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky with
the prestigious award, the Order of Courage, 3rd class, for his “courage,
bravery and professionalism”, Newsweek said.
He had also led a contingent
over Khreshchatyk as part of Ukraine’s 30th-anniversary celebrations in August
last year.
The institute remembered
Captain Lystopad as capable and “very persistent”. It also said that
he defended Ukraine “from the first minutes” of Russia’s full-scale
invasion of Ukraine.
