the F-16 will “burn” in Ukraine, like the Leopards – RT in French

During the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the Russian President said that the combat aircraft that NATO countries may deliver to Ukrainian forces will be destroyed by Russian forces.

“The tanks are burning. It will be the same for the F-16”, declared this June 16 the Russian president Vladimir Putin during the Economic Forum of Saint-Petersburg, concerning the military support offered to Kiev by the NATO countries.

“There are Leopards, and yesterday also there were Leopards, which are on fire and the F-16s will also burn, like these Leopards, there is no doubt about that”, declared the chief of Russian state, then questioned on the implication of NATO in the Ukrainian conflict. “It’s a threat,” he said, that the Atlantic Alliance “gets involved in the conflict.” Implication that the Alliance based in Brussels still denies, despite its calls to support Ukraine.

On June 15, its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, saying that Ukrainian troops were making progress in their counter-offensive, stressed that this progress was partly due to “NATO support for many months”.

On May 19, on the occasion of the opening of the G7 in Hiroshima, the White House announced Joe Biden’s green light for the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine. This agreement followed the announcement, two days earlier, by the British and Dutch Prime Ministers, of the creation of an “international coalition” aimed at providing Kiev with “combat air capabilities, supporting everything from training on the purchase of F16 aircraft.

At the end of January, it was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who gave his agreement to supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2, German-made combat tanks which were incessantly demanded by kyiv. Since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in early June, several of these armored vehicles have been put out of action, according to videos posted on social networks.