(Reuters) -The switch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would elevate the query of NATO’s involvement within the battle, Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov mentioned in remarks revealed early on Monday.
“There isn’t a infrastructure for the operation of the F-16 in Ukraine and the wanted variety of pilots and upkeep personnel will not be there both,” Antonov mentioned in remarks revealed on the embassy’s Telegram messaging channel.
“What’s going to occur if the American fighters take off from NATO airfields, managed by international ‘volunteers’?”
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday endorsed coaching packages for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy assured Biden that the plane wouldn’t be used to enter Russian territory.
Antonov mentioned that any Ukrainian strike on Crimea could be thought-about a strike on Russia.
“It is crucial that the US be absolutely conscious of the Russian response,” Antonov mentioned.
Ukraine has intensified its strikes on Russian-held targets particularly on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Modifying by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates)