Russian President Vladimir Putin warned this Thursday, March 28, that Western F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine will be a military target, but ruled out the possibility of a confrontation with NATO countries. Along these lines, Putin described as “total nonsense” the statements in the West that Russia, after Ukraine, is preparing to attack Europe. Meanwhile, the offensive against kyiv continues. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was bombed by Russia for the first time since 2022. The bombings killed at least one civilian and injured 16 others, according to local sources. To the south, in Zaporizhia, a drone attack damaged houses and caused a fire in a residential area.
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A message of tranquility accompanied by a warning. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this Thursday, March 28, that he has no plans to attack any member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).. A statement that comes in the midst of tension with Poland after the invasion of its airspace with a Russian missile, and after cross statements between the Baltic States and Moscow.
“The idea that we will attack another country is complete nonsense. It is nonsense!” the Russian president emphasized.
“What they say about us going to attack Europe after Ukraine is total nonsense, it is intimidation of its population, to get money from it,” he said.
He insisted that it is “total nonsense” to talk about the possibility of “an attack on other countries, on Poland, on the Baltic countries.”
Read alsoPoland is alert after violation of its airspace by Russia
Nevertheless, Putin warned that “if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine, they will be shot down by Russian forces.”
The Russian president's comment is a response to statements by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who reported the possible arrival of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming months.
These aircraft are considered some of the most powerful in war scenarios due to their speed and great maneuverability, which is why they have been desired by the Ukrainian Army for several months.
Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have pledged to donate F-16s to kyiv. But this aid is a red line for Russia, which is not even willing to allow the manufacturing of these fighter jets on Ukrainian soil.
“Of course, if they are used from airfields in third countries, they become legitimate targets for us, wherever they are located,” Putin said.
NATO military aid to Ukraine is currently a heated discussion. The United States is kyiv's greatest ally and the largest contributor to the transatlantic alliance. US aid to the Ukrainian Army since the start of the war is estimated at $46 billion, $10 billion more than total European aid.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to France and Belgium next week to discuss more aid for Ukraine. Likewise, Blinken will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Ukrainian Foreign Minister.
Russia intensifies its attacks in southern Ukraine
Ukraine claims that its air defense system shot down 26 of the 28 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched in recent hours by Russia. However, damage to infrastructure and residential areas in eastern, southern and southeastern Ukraine is evident.
In Zaporzhia, the attacks left two people wounded, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional military administration. Residents of the city where Europe's largest nuclear power plant is located described the Russian attacks.
“We are alive thanks to the fact that the drone fell in the patio of the house. May God protect us in the future. This is unbearable, people suffer! I hope all this is returned to the Russians a hundredfold,” Tetiana Shabotiuk, a local resident, told the Reuters news agency.
To the north, in Kharkiv, airstrikes caused widespread damage, hitting several residential buildings and damaging the emergency surgery institute in the country's second city.
It is the first time since the start of the large-scale invasion in 2022 that Russia has bombed Ukraine's second largest city. The result of the attacks was one person dead and 16 injured.
Russia has stepped up its attacks on Ukraine in recent days, launching several barrages of missiles at the capital kyiv and attacking energy infrastructure across the country, in apparent retaliation for recent Ukrainian airstrikes against the Russian border region of Belgorod.
In the last week, more than a million Ukrainians have been left without electricity after Russian airstrikes on energy facilities across the country: about 700,000 residents in the eastern Kharkiv region, at least 200,000 each in the southern Odessa and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions, and another 110,000 in the central Poltava, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration.
Meanwhile, in the last few hours and apart from the air strikes, a Russian military plane crashed in the Black Sea off the port of Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula, according to pro-Russian governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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