Oleksii Mes - Know Your Own

Two classmates from flight school became the faces of Ukraine’s campaign for F-16 fighter jets. One of them, Oleksii Mes, call sign “Moonfish”, later flew the F-16 himself, defending the sky against Russian missiles. Killed in 2024; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).

Key accomplishments

Commander of a MiG-29 fighter squadron in the Ukrainian Air Force’s 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade

In 2019, the first Ukrainian pilot to observe air-to-air refuelling from the back seat of an F-15D Eagle

In 2022, with Andrii Pilshchykov, lobbied US politicians to give Ukraine F-16s

Trained on the F-16 in Britain in 2023

On 26 August 2024, during a massive Russian strike, destroyed three cruise missiles and an attack drone

Hero of Ukraine (posthumously, decree No. 165/2025)

Two from the same class

Oleksii Mes was born in 1993 in Shepetivka, a town in the Khmelnytskyi region of western Ukraine. He studied at the Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National University of the Air Force and graduated in 2016 together with his classmate and close friend Andrii Pilshchykov, call sign “Juice”. Oleksii served in the 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade and rose from pilot to commander of a MiG-29 fighter squadron. In 2019, flying with the 144th Fighter Wing of the US Air National Guard, he became the first Ukrainian to watch mid-air refuelling from the back seat of an F-15D Eagle.

“Moonfish” and “Juice” in America

After Russia’s full-scale invasion, “Moonfish” and “Juice” became the faces of a campaign to get Ukraine Patriot air-defence systems, ATACMS missiles and F-16 fighters. In June 2022 they flew to the United States and explained to Senator Mark Kelly and Congressman Adam Kinzinger why Ukraine needed the jets urgently. Andrii was killed in August 2023. That same year Oleksii trained on the F-16 in Britain.

The sky over Ukraine

On 26 August 2024 Russia launched one of its most powerful combined missile strikes on Ukraine. That day Oleksii, flying an F-16, destroyed three cruise missiles and an attack drone. Oleksii Mes was killed when his F-16 crashed while fighting off the attack. He was 30.

How he is remembered

Oleksii was posthumously promoted to colonel, and in 2025 he was made a Hero of Ukraine. He was buried in his home town of Shepetivka. In Kharkiv, where he and Andrii had studied, part of a lane named Hlisada Dzhusa (“Juice’s Glide Path”) was renamed Moonfish Alley in 2025. The two friends’ names now sit side by side on the city map.