Russia sees the West’s supply of modern fighter jets like the F-16 to Ukraine as a nuclear threat. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns against this in an interview with the Russian website Lenta.ru.
According to Lavrov, F-16s can be equipped with nuclear weapons. “The very fact that such systems appear in the Ukrainian armed forces will be seen as a nuclear threat by the West,” he warned. “The United States and its NATO allies are creating the risk of a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could have catastrophic consequences.”
Ukraine has been asking for modern fighter planes, especially F-16s, since the beginning of the war. In the context of the security guarantees that some NATO member states agreed with Ukraine during the NATO summit in Vilnius, this can be enriched and the F-16s can be delivered. In May, the United States, which produces the F-16, gave the green light to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16.
Ukraine does not (any longer) have nuclear weapons and has never asked its Western allies to do so. According to Russian nuclear doctrine, Russia can use nuclear weapons only in two cases: if there is a nuclear attack on Russia, or if there is a conventional attack that threatens the very existence of the country.
Source: BNR
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