Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that any Western air base hosting US-made F-16 fighter aircraft earmarked for Ukraine were legitimate targets for Russian air strikes, the AP reported, while he paradoxically ridiculed Western concerns that Moscow would attack NATO countries.
“Their statements about our alleged intention to attack Europe after Ukraine is sheer nonsense,” Putin said late Wednesday, in response to Western worries that his invasion of Ukraine could spill over beyond its borders.
Admitting that NATO, in his estimation, has a military budget of more than 10 times that of Russia, Putin did not excluding the possibility of strikes on European airbases: “Of course, if they [F-16s] are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, no matter where they are located,” he said.
Yet Putin also said that the idea that the Kremlin plans to instigate a broader war with the Alliance amounts to mere sound and fury from Western actors.
“In view of that, are we going to wage a war against NATO? It’s ravings,” Putin was quoted by the AP as saying to military pilots during a visit to an air base.
Several NATO members have promised F-16s and other US-made aircraft to Kyiv, and training of Ukrainian pilots is already underway in the US and Romania. What is less clear is how many Ukrainian airfield runways and bomb-proof hangars can accommodate these fighters, which would certainly be Russian targets as well.
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“F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and we will also need to take that into account while organizing our combat operations,” Putin added.
Boots-on-the-ground bloggers claim Russians downed their own warplane
Citing social media reports on Telegram, state news service Ukrinform reported on Wednesday that Russian forces shot down their own Su-35 (NATO: “Flanker-E”) warplane shortly after a takeoff from the Belbek airfield in Crimea.
Eyewitnesses reportedly saw the pilot eject from the Su-35, just before the $85 million multi-role fighter, introduced in 2014, splashed into the Black Sea.
This is not the first time that Russia is said to have downed its own aircraft by friendly fire, Ukrinform reported, citing their December 2023 accidental downing of a Su-25 (NATO: “Frogfoot”).
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Comments (3)
Surely then, Russian bases that host Russian planes are legitimate targets for NATO? Or does the west once again, allow Russia to rattle its sabre while acting weak?
Putin is so crazy that can´t understand obvious things. You can´t say that you are not going to attack NATO countries and then say that you could attack NATO air bases if there are F16 for Ukraine on them. If you attack an air base in a NATO country you are attacking a NATO country. Maybe someone from Poland or a Baltic country should reply that they will never attack Russia, but could attack a Russian air base if there are planes there that could attack their countries in the future.
Putin and Russia continue to be terrified by the F-16s. They fear an increase in military aid that will coincide with the arrival of the F-16s, and will result in an offensive push from the Ukrainians. If the Russian positions in the rear, and their supply lines are cut, both very real capabilities of the F-16, their entire house of cards could come crashing down rapidly. Once that happens, Putin and his regime won’t last long, and they know it.