F-16 fighter jets, even if Western countries supply them to Ukraine, will not be able to change the situation on the NATO proxy battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
The head of state had a conversation with military pilots during a working trip to Torzhok in central Russia’s Tver Region. If they supply F-16’s… I think, and you understand this better than anyone else…, this will not change the situation on the battlefield.
He said that if these fighter jets are launched from the territory of third countries, they will become a legitimate target for Russia. The president also said the F-16’s will be destroyed just like other Western equipment delivered to Kiev.
Should the US-made 4th generation fighter jets make it to Ukraine, Russia will destroy them just as it has other Western equipment so far.
Several NATO members have promised to donate their F-16’s to Kiev and have trained Ukrainian pilots to fly them, but no deliveries have been made as of yet.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West that fielding the nuclear-capable jets will be an unacceptable escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
If they deliver the F-16’s, I think you know better than others that this will not change the situation on the battlefield, the president said.
And we will destroy these planes just as we have destroyed tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, including multiple launch rocket systems.
Russia is well aware that the 1970’s jet can potentially carry nuclear weapons, and this will be taken into account in combat operations.
Kiev has lost much of its air force over the past two years, including the Soviet-era jets donated by several NATO members as replacements. The Ukrainian government eventually asked the US-led bloc for the F-16’s.
The single-engine fighter is a late 1970’s design, originally manufactured by General Dynamics before it was acquired by Lockheed Martin.
It requires pristine runways, which are in short supply in Ukraine, prompting speculation that Ukrainian-operated jets might be stationed in nearby NATO countries instead.
Sputnik / RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
They will be smoked and turned into scrap just as all the other war items send to the NATO proxy battlefield
Flying scrap sold to third world countries!