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The Air Force announced on Wednesday that a member of the California Air National Guard and a member of the Ukrainian forces had been killed in a Ukrainian battle accident on Tuesday during World War II. A military exercise in the country.
The American airman of the 144th Fighter Squadron in Fresno, California, was participating in the multinational exercise Clear Sky when the Su-27UB fighter plane in which he was crashed around 5 pm. local time in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine, said the US Air Force in Europe in a statement.
"It's a sad day for the United States and Ukraine," said Major-General Clay Garrison, commander of the California Air National Guard and director of Exercise Clear Sky. "Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends and other aviators of the American airmen and the Ukrainian airman who were killed in the incident."
The release notes that the airman was participating in a "familiarization flight with a Ukrainian counterpart for a single aircraft" and that there was "no other aircraft involved in the incident".
The service retains the name of the service member for 24 hours pending notification from the next of kin.
"The US and Ukrainian governments are conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the accident," added the US Air Force in Europe.
US air forces in Europe said Tuesday for the first time that an American airman had been involved in the accident.
Clear Sky is an exercise that for the first time involves about 950 soldiers from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, the Kingdom United States and United States.
The exercise began on October 8 and will end this week.
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