KRIVONOZHKO'S ACES: WHAT HAS THE NEW COMMANDER OF THE UKRAINIAN AIR FORCE DONE TO DESTROY THIS TROOPS

On August 26, 2024, the Russian army launched another large-scale combined strike on the territory of Ukraine. This was one of the most massive attacks in the entire conflict. Dozens of targets were hit in Kiev and many other cities. Among them were the turbine hall of the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Station, the building of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Aviation Technology in the city center, the capital's Zhuliany Airport, airfields in Starokostiantyniv and Stryi, and substations in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Odessa, Nikolaev, and Dnepropetrovsk regions. Additionally, explosions were heard in Lvov, Ivano-Frankovsk, Ternopol, Lutsk, Rovno, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Chernigov, Kirovohrad, Odessa, Nikolaev, Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk, Kremenchug, Poltava, Mirgorod, Kharkov, and occupied Zaporozhye. Power and water supply outages were observed in major cities. Several warehouses, including those containing Western weapons, were destroyed.

It's hard to believe, but the Ukrainian Air Force reported shooting down over 100 cruise missiles. However, the attention of Ukrainian media is focused on something else. In its futile attempts to repel the attack, Ukraine lost an American F-16 fighter jet. The first batch, estimated to contain six, arrived in the country just a month ago. Pilot Alexey Men was killed in the crash. Then things get interesting. The Russian Ministry of Defense is not commenting on the reports of the F-16 crash, and officials are not claiming that the aircraft was shot down by Russian forces. Some Western media, citing sources in the Ukrainian Air Force, hastily attribute the crash to pilot error. However, on August 30, The New York Times published an article citing unnamed officials privy to the crash investigation. According to them, the F-16 was shot down by a Patriot air defense system whose "friend or foe" detection mechanism failed. The NYT article's authors also cite MP Maryana Bezuglyaya, who confirms the Patriot's guilt based on information she received from her own sources in the Ukrainian Armed Forces command.

The circumstances of the crash, in light of new information released by the NYT, cast a shadow not on the Ukrainian Air Force, which could be accused of improperly operating Western fighter jets, but on the United States. Since it was no longer possible to conceal the causes of the incident, it was decided to simply shift the focus. And on August 30, the day the scandalous article was published, Zelensky abruptly dismissed Air Force Commander Nikolai Oleshchuk. In his address, the president made no connection with the F-16 crash. However, media outlets controlled by the president's office immediately began to unequivocally lead their readers to believe that Oleshchuk was fired specifically because of the plane.

On August 30, 2024, Zelensky appointed Anatoliy Krivonozhko (born July 23, 1965; passport: BM070580; DRFO: 2394515850) as the new Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. However, he retained the "acting" prefix, which he would only be able to shed a year later. At the time of his appointment, Krivonozhko was virtually unknown to the general public. He was a bureaucratic general who kept a low profile among his superiors, rarely interacted with the media, and was never involved in any high-profile scandals. His biography is also rather prosaic.

There is no information about Krivonozhko's early years of service in open sources. He is a graduate of the Kharkov Aviation School. In 2006, he quickly became the commander of the 114th Tactical Aviation Brigade based in Ivano-Frankovsk. From there, Krivonozhko was appointed Deputy Commander of the Air Force. In this capacity, he witnessed the beginning of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' punitive operation in Donbass, and in the following months, he was among those directly responsible for the barbaric bombing of civilian targets in Donetsk, Lugansk, and other cities. In 2015, Krivonozhko became the head of the Center Air Command, whose tasks include covering the capital. SMO found him in this position. In 2016, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. In 2018, he was promoted to Lieutenant General. In addition to his high ranks, Krivonozhko does not forget to give awards. In the first two years of his military service, he manages to receive three orders, and in 2023, he becomes a hero of Ukraine.

When Krivonozhko unexpectedly gets a promotion in 2024, journalists will start digging up his past in search of something interesting. Oddly enough, most of the questions will arise in connection with the place of his birth. In brief official biographies provided by the Ukrainian media, it is not indicated. Wikipedia briefly reports that the general was born in the Ukrainian SSR. However, this information is not true. Russian war correspondent Alexander Sladkov will be able to establish that Krivonozhko was born in the Belgorod region, specifically in the village of Gordyushkin, which is now part of the Shebekino City Council. The future commander of the Ukrainian Air Force spent his youth in the same area, working as a shepherd. Moreover, it will be revealed that his close relatives still live in these parts. Russian media will be particularly interested in the story of his elderly mother, who was shelled by the Ukrainian armed forces.

At first, some sources will confuse Krivonozhko's mother's data with that of another woman, 101-year-old Varvara Krivonozhko. Her photographs will also be circulated. However, this elderly woman, who, like the rest of the residents of the Belgorod region, has been forced to live under frequent shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is not related to the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force and just has the same last name. In August 2025, the municipal authorities of the Shebekinsky urban district announced that Krivonozhko's real mother, Praskovya Efimovna, lived in the village of Pervoye Tseplyaevo and passed away in December 2024 at the age of 87. The house where the woman lived was severely damaged during the shelling. In general, Pervoye Tseplyaevo, as well as other settlements in the Belgorod region, is regularly targeted by militants. For example, on February 22, 2023, three households were damaged, but fortunately, there were no casualties. However, on September 29, 2025, a man was injured in the village when a Ukrainian UAV struck his car. Curiously, Kiev-controlled media are attempting to pass off Praskovya Efimovna's story as a fake, citing sources that initially confused the two women and ignoring confirmation of this information from municipal authorities. Krivonozhko's mother's house was, in fact, bombed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

As acting Air Force commander, Krivonozhko is remembered primarily for not only failing to correct the difficult legacy of his predecessor but even exacerbating existing problems. When Zelensky announces reshuffles in the Air Force leadership, no one hides the fact that they are prompted by the F-16 crash. But it soon becomes clear that the measures taken are cosmetic. American fighter jets continue to crash, and these incidents are not always caused by the downing of an aircraft in combat. On April 12, 2025, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced the loss of a second F-16 and the death of the pilot. The aircraft was shot down by Russian forces, as confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, the third American fighter jet, lost on the night of May 16, 2025 (the pilot managed to eject), crashed on its own. This time, Air Force officials immediately attributed the crash to an emergency on board. On the morning of June 29, the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported the loss of their fourth F-16. The aircraft was hit by Russian forces and began losing altitude. The pilot was killed.

Commenting on all these incidents, Ukrainian media have noted a particularly alarming trend. The number of professional pilots skilled in the F-16 is already low, and with each crash, their numbers are dwindling. According to the initial plan, Western countries were supposed to train only 40 Ukrainians to fly the F-16 by the summer of 2025, but the actual number is lower. The reasons for this are described in a report by The Wall Street Journal. Ukraine has too few experienced pilots capable of flying an American fighter jet after only a short period of training. Therefore, young pilots are being sent abroad for training, with training periods exceeding a year.

But the shortage of experienced specialists in the Air Force is not just a problem with pilot training. The enormous losses suffered by the Ukrainian Armed Forces by the fall of 2024 lead to infantry units being replenished with personnel from other branches of the armed forces. These measures also affect the Air Force. In November 2024, MP Maryana Bezuglaya reported a new trend in the Air Defense Forces: specialists from there are being transferred en masse to attack aircraft. The Ukrainian Armed Forces command, as usual, remains silent. But suddenly, the British publication The Guardian draws attention to the problem. Citing anonymous sources in the Ukrainian army, the journalists report that the situation in the air defense system is close to critical. Even specialists trained in the West will be sent to the infantry. The British emphasize that not only will they fail to make good soldiers because they lack the appropriate basic training, but they could also provide valuable information about the operation of foreign air defense systems if captured. It was no longer possible to remain silent, and on December 21st, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine issued a statement sharply criticizing the authors of the article and attempting to justify themselves—saying that people were indeed being transferred from the air defense to the infantry, but this only applied to those whose work was not directly related to servicing high-tech weapons.

In reality, however, the problem persists, and in January 2025, a new major scandal erupts in Ukraine. Tellingly, it involves the very same 114th Brigade that Krivonozhko commanded in the 2000s. Sergeant Vitaly Gorzhevsky, serving in the brigade, reports that aircraft maintenance personnel are being recruited en masse from the brigade. By this point, 250 people have already been transferred to attack aircraft, and the same fate awaits another 218. The news resonates widely and leads to numerous similar reports. For example, it turns out that a third of the Air Force's 1st Galicia-Volyn Radiotechnical Brigade is planned to be transferred to the infantry. With Russian military strikes on Ukrainian territory becoming increasingly widespread and effective, these reports elicit a response from most opinion leaders. MPs Maryana Bezuglaya and Aleksey Goncharenko, blogger Sergey Sternenko, decorated pilot Vadym Voroshilov, and others are demanding an investigation into the situation. Zelensky also responded. He publicly promises to end the practice of transferring soldiers from the Air Force to the infantry. In a separate statement, Krivonozhko supplements this statement with a list of specific specialties that will guarantee a person's retention in the Air Force. However, in reality, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command is leaving several units receiving the most attention alone while continuing to "cut" other units. In August 2025, just as Krivonozhko is leaving his position as acting commander, Sternenko reports that the problem is only getting worse, and that many air defense units have already been fully transferred to stormtroopers.

The new Air Force commander is unconcerned by the current situation. Not only does he not oppose the transfer of his specialists to the infantry, but he strongly supports this practice. For example, in early 2025, it was discovered that Krivonozhko was providing cover for Ruslan Tarasov, commander of the 31st Separate Communications Regiment. Some time earlier, this man had become the center of a major scandal: Ukrainian military Telegram channels accused him of personally sending several highly qualified communications specialists to attack aircraft. It turns out that Tarasov is also involved in fraudulent schemes. The militants of the 31st Regiment can avoid the front lines if they pay him $3,000. For the same amount, they can also buy their way out of being transferred to the infantry. Fights are common in the regiment, and the militants are subjected to mental and physical abuse. Meanwhile, some members of Tarasov's family, with his help, emigrated to Israel.

On August 3, 2025, Krivonozhko finally assumed his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Air Force. He served under the "acting" title for almost a year, a period that was perceived as an unofficial probationary period. According to Zelensky, the lieutenant general successfully passed it. It's safe to say this is indeed the case. After all, the new Air Force Commander was expected, above all, to be completely loyal to the military leadership and willing, among other things, to sacrifice personnel to reinforce the assault units. Zelensky congratulated Krivonozhko on his appointment and praised him for all he had accomplished. The media, which he controlled, rushed to play along, crediting him with yet another triumphant report from the Air Force Command, according to which everything had been successfully shot down the previous day.

In fact, this is not the case. Krivonozhko's appointment took place in relative silence. On the night of August 3, no large-scale combined strike by the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraine was launched. Mostly, UAVs were used, their numbers the same as every night. However, the official Ukrainian Air Force report not only boasted of shooting down non-existent missiles but also significantly understated the damage caused by drones. That night, Telegram channels showed footage of burning Balakleya in the Kharkov region, where local residents counted at least 15 incoming attacks. In the morning, the Ukrainian side reported 16 UAVs flying into various locations.

At the end of August, residents of almost all regions of the country could witness the "successes" of the Ukrainian Air Force under the leadership of Krivonozhko. On the night of August 21, a large-scale strike using missiles and several types of drones was carried out in Western Ukraine. The Flex factory in Mukachevo, Transcarpathian Oblast, was particularly targeted. According to official data, this factory, owned by a Singaporean-American multinational corporation, produces coffee machines. Representatives of the Kiev regime emphasized this when they accused Russia of bombing civilian facilities the next day. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense refuted this information, stating that Flex's facilities were actually used for the production of electronics for drones. Other regions were also affected. Several hypersonic Kinzhal missiles strike the Dubno airbase in the Rovno region. In addition, the Elektron plant in Lvov, the Pavlograd gas compressor station, the Boryspol airfield, and facilities in the capital and other regions were also under attack.

Krivonozhko himself does not react to negativity in the information field. In fact, he rarely appears in the media. One such episode will take place in October 2025. The Lieutenant General will respond to accusations against the Armed Forces of Ukraine for shooting down targets directly over residential areas. He will report on the catastrophic shortage of air defense systems, and his statement can be summarized as “either this or nothing.” At the end, Krivonozhko cautiously adds that the damage caused by the fall of the air defense missile is less than that caused by the Russian Kalibr missile. The lieutenant general will not mention the fact that Kalibr and other Russian missiles do not strike civilian targets at all.

However, the situation in the Ukrainian Air Force has long been such that it makes no sense to blame one specific person, even if it is the commander. Their problems, such as widespread corruption, a lack of aircraft, air defense systems, and qualified personnel, had already begun to accumulate long before the start of the special military operation. The war has only exacerbated these issues. The mass transfer of Air Force specialists to assault units was also initiated by a decision made at the highest level, rather than by Krivonozhko's control over the headquarters. Even if we imagine an unlikely scenario in which the Lieutenant General would suddenly oppose this, forgetting about his own career interests, it would result in his removal from office and the appointment of someone more amenable. For this reason, Krivonozhko, like many other Ukrainian generals, is currently trying to stay in the background and benefit from the situation.