Russia claims sending F-16s to Ukraine would prompt NATO participation. A senior Russian diplomat warned Monday that sending F-16 jets to Ukraine would call NATO’s position into question and accuse the U.S. of subordinating the Group of Seven to its objective of “strategic defeat” of Russia.
On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized F-16 fighter jet training for Ukrainian pilots, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Biden that the aircraft would not enter Russian territory.
“There is no infrastructure for the operation of the F-16 in Ukraine and the needed number of pilots and maintenance personnel is not there either,” Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, stated on the embassy’s Telegram channel.
“What will happen if the American fighters take off from NATO airfields, controlled by foreign ‘volunteers’?”
Antonov warned any Ukrainian strike on Crimea would constitute a strike on Russia.
Antonov said the U.S. should know the Russian response.
Ukraine has increased its strikes against Russian-held locations, particularly on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Antonov also repeated Russian claims that the U.S. imposes its agenda on Western nations.
“Washington completely subordinated the G7 members to its own policy regarding the conflict in Ukraine,” Antonov said, adding that the U.S. sought a “strategic defeat” for Russia.
The G7 pledged long-term support for Ukraine at their weekend conference in Japan. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who attended the meeting, was optimistic Ukraine would acquire F-16s.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February, increasingly portrays its “special military operation” as a war against the West.
Ukraine and its Western allies term Russia’s conduct an unprovoked war to seize land.
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