President Putin has already warned such a move would risk escalation
Ukraine will keep some of its foreign-donated F16s abroad in order to protect them from Russian attacks, according to a senior Ukrainian military officer. The move risks escalating the conflict yet further, since Putin has already warned he would consider attacking Ukrainian jets stationed abroad if they are used to attack Russian forces.
A number of European nations have already committed to providing more than 60 US-made F16 jets to the Ukrainians, and Ukrainian pilots are already being trained in how to fly them. The planes are expected to be delivered at the end of the year.
Serhii Holubtsov, head of aviation in Ukraine’s air force, said that “a certain number of aircraft will be stored at secure air bases outside of Ukraine so that they are not targeted here.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned on a number of occasions that Moscow would consider launching strikes on NATO countries if they host warplanes used in Ukraine.
“If they are stationed at air bases outside the Ukrainian borders and used in combat, we will have to see how and where to strike the assets used in combat against us,” Putin said last year.
“It poses a serious danger of NATO being further drawn into the conflict.”
In March, Putin again warned Ukraine’s allies against providing air bases from where the F-16s could launch attacks against Russian forces. He said such bases would become a “legitimate target.”
“F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and we will also need to take that into account while organizing our combat operations.”
The news comes after the US gave Kyiv authorisation to use US-made weapons against targets inside Russia. According to Russian reports, US-made HIMARS artillery were then used to strike targets around Belgorod.
In response to the authorisation, Moscow warned that the West was moving towards open conflict with Russia and a potential nuclear exchange.
Former president Dmitriy Medvedev was particularly blunt in his assessment of the situation.
“This is not ‘military assistance’ at all, but participation in a war against us. And such actions of theirs [the US] may well become a casus belli,” Medvedev said.
“The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario,” he continued.
“There is a constant escalation in the power of applicable NATO weapons.
“Therefore, today no one can rule out the transition of the conflict to its final stage.”
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