Despite numerous warnings by Russian officials to NATO and Putin’s own statements on nuclear war, Russia has no plans to invade Europe or NATO, but if the West delivers F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, they will be shot down by Russian forces President Vladimir Putin said late on Wednesday, the 27th of March, reports Reuters.
Addressing Russian air force pilots, Putin said the US-led military alliance has been expanding eastwards towards Russia since 1991. He has used NATO’s expansion in recent decades to justify starting a war in Ukraine.
“We have no aggressive intentions towards NATO,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement released on Thursday.
“The idea that we will attack another country – Poland, the Baltic states and the Czechs are also scared – is complete nonsense. It is simply nonsense.”
Asked about the F-16 fighter jets the West has promised to send to Ukraine, Putin denied their importance, saying they would not change the situation on the battlefield. He claimed that Russia will destroy these aircraft, just as it is doing with the tanks and other military equipment currently in Ukraine.
Putin said that F-16s could also carry nuclear weapons.
“Of course, if they are used from airfields in third countries, they will become legitimate targets for us, wherever they are,” Putin said.
Putin’s remarks came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that F-16 fighter jets would arrive in Ukraine in the coming months.
Several countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, have pledged to donate F-16s, and a coalition of countries has also committed to help train Ukrainian pilots to use them.
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