“...killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack”
Ummm, maybe the aerial attack had something to do with it. Jets have a tendency to crash and burn during such attacks, I would assign the cause of crash to the F16 being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
This was shooting drones over Ukrainian territory. So he wasn’t shot down.
He was, however, flying very fast and very low, focusing guns (probably) on a slippery target.
In all probability, he flew into the ground, which is easy to do in that circumstance.