If the West helps Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, it will be a “serious danger of drawing NATO into an armed conflict” with Russia and the planes will be destroyed, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin warned on Friday, suggesting that Moscow could strike bases where these planes, even if they are outside Ukraine, News.ro reports with reference to TASS.

F-16 aircraft will suffer the fate of Western tanks, Vladimir Putin said on Friday. “Tanks are on fire, including Leopards.” And the F-16 will burn in the same way. There is no doubt about it,” the Kremlin leader said at an economic forum in St. Petersburg.

Russia will consider options to destroy these planes, even if they are based outside of Ukraine. â

“If they are stationed at air bases outside of Ukraine and are being used in hostilities, we will have to look at how and where we can target these assets that are being used in hostilities against us,” Putin said. “This is a serious danger of further involvement of NATO in an armed conflict,” he warned.

The comments about the F-16s came after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that Ukrainian pilots had already begun training to fly the F-16s.

On the other hand, in an interview with RT, Minister of Foreign Affairs Serhii Lavrov, for his part, said that Russia is ready to “give a military-technical response” if F-16 fighter jets appear in the sky of Ukraine. He claims that Moscow is concerned about the possibility of the F-16 aircraft transferred to Ukraine carrying nuclear weapons.

Lavrov says he took action and notified the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who are also nuclear powers and whose experts hold regular discussions.

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