Putin Says NATO Airbases ‘Legitimate Target’ if F-16s There Used in Ukraine – Ukraine at War: Update for March 29

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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EXPLAINED: What We Know About Russia’s Oreshnik Missile Fired on Ukraine

Putin said it had been deployed "in a non-nuclear hypersonic configuration" and said that the "test" had been successful and had hit its target.

“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”).