Russian General Yevgeny Buzhinsky said NATO air bases would become a justified target of an attack if used by Ukrainian forces; he listed bases in Poland and Romania.
Recently, a coalition of countries including Poland, the U.K., Germany, and the U.S. decided to donate Western-made tanks to Ukraine. Signals are appearing that Kyiv’s next goal could be acquiring Western fighter jets and long-range weapons.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Monday that France does not rule out the possibility of delivering fighter jets to Ukraine. He said the criteria for doing so would be that such armaments must be needed by Ukraine, it must not weaken the French army’s defense capabilities, and it must not escalate the war with Russia.
He stressed that Ukraine had not yet requested the donation of jets and a decision on the matter would be taken based on formal motions instead of rumors.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland is consulting with allies on further Ukraine aid and did not exclude the possibility of donating aircraft to Kyiv. President Joe Biden, however, said the U.S. would not donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Russian propaganda is not idle. The possible aircraft delivery was mentioned by Yevgeny Buzhinsky, a Russian general and former chief of the international cooperation department at the Russian MoD, who threatened that “NATO airbases would become a justified target for Russian forces if made available for Ukrainian jets.”
“If NATO countries decide to involve their air forces, they could start operating from nearby NATO airbases, in Romania and Poland, for example,” continued Buzhinsky, adding that airbases “become a target that can be defeated legally from the viewpoint of international law.”
