The switch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would elevate the query of NATO’s involvement within the battle, Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov has mentioned.
“There isn’t a infrastructure for the operation of the F-16 in Ukraine and the wanted variety of pilots and upkeep personnel shouldn’t be there both,” Antonov mentioned in remarks revealed on the embassy’s Telegram messaging channel on Monday.
“What is going to occur if the American fighters take off from NATO airfields, managed by international ‘volunteers’?”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has for months been calling on the nation’s Western allies to produce superior fighter jets amid issues such a transfer can be met with an escalation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However amid a flurry of diplomacy by Zelenskyy forward of the just-concluded G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte introduced final week they’d agreed to construct an “worldwide coalition” to offer fighter jet help for Ukraine.
Then on Friday, US President Joe Biden endorsed coaching programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, with Zelenskyy assuring Biden that the plane wouldn’t be used to enter Russian territory.
Over the weekend, Russian Deputy Overseas Minister Alexander Grushko warned Western nations can be operating “colossal dangers” in the event that they went forward with the provision of the F-16s.
Antonov mentioned that any Ukrainian assault on Crimea, which Moscow invaded and annexed in 2014, can be thought-about an assault on Russia.
“It is crucial that the US be totally conscious of the Russian response,” Antonov mentioned.
The worldwide neighborhood doesn’t recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Air defence specialists say US-built F-16 fighter jets would supply Ukraine an edge over the Russian air drive, however provided that mixed with highly effective missiles and focusing on info, which the West would even have to offer and which might threat drawing Ukraine’s Western allies extra actively into the battle.
