In battle, 24-year-old Ukrainian pilot Ivan Bolotov lost his life.

24-year-old Ukrainian pilot, Captain Ivan Bolotov of the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade, died while carrying out a combat mission, as reported by the brigade on February 3.

“He was only 24, but he was a skilled and experienced warrior who relentlessly fought against the occupier in all their insidious tactics and fronts,” the statement said.

According to the brigade, Captain Bolotov had been performing flight missions for the Air Force for nearly three years since the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion.

The report indicated that the pilot is survived by his wife and a five-month-old son.

Bolotov is one of several young Ukrainian pilots who have lost their lives in combat. In August 2024, 27-year-old pilot Oleksandr Myhulya was killed “while performing a combat mission to defend the territory of Ukraine.”

Myhulya was an experienced pilot, having served in the Air Force since 2014.

He was the commander of an aviation unit of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade and had completed over 160 combat sorties since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.

The death of another fighter pilot from the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade was confirmed in December 2024.

“A young Ukrainian pilot did not return from a combat mission in one of the hottest areas of the front,” the Air Force reported on December 14.

Background. It is worth noting that in December it became known that Ukrainian pilots completed training on French Mirage 2000-5F fighters. France is set to deliver Mirage 2000-5 fighters to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2025.