Capt. Vladyslav Savieliev completed the course in March and returned to Ukraine after not flying in his old jet, the MiG-29, for at least two years. | Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo
Politico: U.S.-trained Ukrainian pilot who died in combat had been eager to get back into the fight
Capt. Vladyslav Savieliev graduated from a pilot training course at a Mississippi air base in March.
When Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Capt. Vladyslav Savieliev, a Ukrainian Air Force pilot with deep experience flying MiG-29 fighter jets against Russian forces, desperately wanted to fight for his country.
But Savieliev, who at the time was enrolled in a two-year selective pilot training course run by the U.S. military at a Mississippi Air Force Base, still had another year to go before completing the program.
Savieliev, known by his call sign “Nomad,” finally returned to Ukraine after graduating in March from the U.S. military’s Aviation Leadership Program, an undergraduate pilot training course designed to boost military relationships with foreign nations. He died weeks later on a combat mission June 2, the Ukrainian Air Force announced last week.
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WNU Editor: The message that I am getting from the above article is not about a brave pilot being eager to get back into the fight after being trained by the U.S. Air Force for two years. The message that I am getting is about a Ukrainian pilot being trained by the U.S. for two years, and then being killed within two weeks of his return to Ukraine in his first combat mission aboard a plane that he was familiar with.