Russia threatens military strikes on Western countries if Ukraine’s newly-donated F-16s are based in NATO territory

Russia has threatened to target Western countries with missile strikes if Ukraine’s newly-donated F-16 fighters are based in NATO territory.

Such an act by Vladimir Putin would also certainly trigger a World War Three scenario between the West and Russia.

It comes as the Kremlin warned today that a nuclear world war is closer than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Maria Zakharova – spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry – warned the West that the advanced F-16 fighters delivered to Ukraine will be a fair target for Russia if they are based in NATO countries.

She said that the fourth-generation fighter jets could be based in Poland, Slovakia and Romania, meaning NATO is ‘getting deeper’ into the Ukrainian conflict.

‘There have been many questions asked about the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,’ said Zakharova, 47.

She continued: ‘I would like to say that NATO member states continue, as you understand, to intensively arm Ukraine and the supply of tactical fighters is next.

Russia has threatened to target Western countries with missile strikes if Ukraine’s newly-donated F-16 fighters (pictured over Romania in November) are based in NATO territory

Russia has threatened to target Western countries with missile strikes if Ukraine’s newly-donated F-16 fighters are based in NATO territory

‘Given the fact that a significant part of Ukraine’s airfield infrastructure has been destroyed, it is possible that these American fighters will be based outside the country, in Poland, Slovakia and Romania.

‘Thus, the North Atlantic Alliance is getting deeper and deeper into the Ukrainian conflict.’

In August, the United States approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russia. They are expected to arrive in Ukraine next year.

Holding the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Zakharova is Russia’s most senior woman diplomat and issued a specific threat to NATO countries on behalf of her boss, Putin’s hawkish 73-year-old Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Zakharova continued: ‘The West is waging a hybrid war against our country under the slogan of saving Ukraine.

‘At the same time, they also agreed that their main goal is to prevent confrontation with Russia.

‘Funny. In reality, the risks of a direct military clash between Russia and NATO are only increasing.

‘For the Russian armed forces, fighters participating in the conflict on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, no matter where they fly from, will be a legitimate target for destruction.’

Her blast coincides with a warning from the deputy head of the Russian security council, Dmitry Medvedev, a former Kremlin president and prime minister.

‘Never since the Cuban Missile Crisis has the threat of a direct clash between Russia and NATO leading to the Third World War been so real,’ he said.

More than 21 months into the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, fighting rages on in Ukraine with no end in sight and neither side has landed a telling blow on the battlefield.

Ukrainian soldiers, living in freezing trenches, acknowledge they are exhausted going into a second winter of full-scale war with a resource-rich, nuclear-armed superpower that has more than triple Ukraine’s population.

Ukrainian military soldiers fire from the MT-12 or 2A29 gun ‘Rapira’ is a Soviet smoothbore 100-mm anti-tank gun on December 7 in Avdiivka, Ukraine

Ukrainian soldiers exit an Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) on December 7 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

Ukrainians know they must secure Western military aid to carry on – and that it will be harder with the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza distracting global attention.

Russian troops, who occupy about 17.5% of Ukraine, are again on the offensive in the east after largely withstanding a Ukrainian counteroffensive that was unable to punch through sprawling defensive lines in the south and east.

The darkening outlook contrasts starkly with Kyiv’s buoyant mood a year ago, after Ukrainians defied expectations by beating back Russian troops around their capital before recapturing territory in the northeast and south, including Kherson city.

The toll keeps mounting in a war that has already killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, destroyed Ukrainian cities, towns and villages, forced millions from their homes and placed hundreds of thousands more under occupation.

But the passage of vital military and financial assistance from the West is no longer happening smoothly.

Indeed, on Wednesday, the US Senate Republicans gave Putin ‘the greatest gift he could hope for’ by blocking a £50billion package of wartime funding for Ukraine, President Joe Biden said.

Biden had pleaded with Republicans for a fresh infusion of military aid for Ukraine, warning that a victory for Russia over Ukraine would leave Moscow in a position to attack NATO allies and could draw US troops into a war.

But hours later, Senate Republicans defiantly voted to block the £50.3billion ($61bn) of funding for Ukraine from advancing, in a devastating blow to Volodymyr Zelensky.

That was part of a wider £87billion package ($110bn) of wartime funding for Israel as well as other national security priorities.

Biden lashed out at Republicans for the move, saying they are ‘willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield’ and give Putin ‘the greatest gift he could hope for’.

‘They’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,’ a furious Biden said earlier. He had warned that without the desperately needed aid funding, Ukraine’s military could be overrun.

‘If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,’ Biden said earlier. Putin will attack a NATO ally, he predicted, and then ‘we’ll have something that we don’t seen and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,’ Biden added.

And within hours of the vote, a smug Kremlin said Russia hopes the US Congress will block future aid to Ukraine. Moscow also accused Biden of playing the Russian threat card in order to secure money.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Biden wanted to ‘continue burning taxpayers’ money in the furnace of war’.

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