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Ukraine will receive F-16s on schedule and Russia ‘will swallow it’: Kuleba
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Thursday that Russia will have to “swallow” the fact that Kyiv will receive F-16 fighter jets, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine deploying F-16s will be viewed as a threat in the “nuclear sphere.”
Kuleba said: “Russia's only threat is a Ukrainian soldier. This is whom Putin and co should be most afraid of. Ukraine will receive F-16s on schedule. Russia will swallow it despite Lavrov’s tongue-rattling.”
Earlier, Lavrov said: “Just one example of an extremely dangerous turn of events is the US plans to transfer F-16 fighter jets to the Kyiv regime,” adding: “We have informed the nuclear powers, the United States, Britain and France, that Russia cannot ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. No amount of assurances will help here.”
The Russian top diplomat stated: “In the course of combat operations, our servicemen are not going to sort out whether each particular aircraft of this type is equipped to deliver nuclear weapons or not.”
He reiterated: “We will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere.”
He then accused the US and NATO of escalating the probability of a direct clash with Russia: “The and its NATO satellites are creating risks of a direct armed clash with Russia, and this is fraught with catastrophic consequences.
Spokesperson for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat announced that the first group of Ukrainian pilots were ready to go for training abroad.
He said: “The first group of 10 pilots who will go for training abroad has already been prepared. The second wave will go after them, and so on. While the first ones will already be using the planes that will enter service in the Ukrainian sky, the rest will be mastering them in the skies of partner countries and preparing to join their comrades in the air formation,” state news agency Ukrinform reported.
Ihnat added that each of partner countries, namely Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, and others, will provide their grounds and material resources to train Ukrainian aviation professionals.
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