The American colonel Douglas McGregor said that Russia responded immediately to the appearance of the first F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, conducting exercises with its nuclear forces.
“Action: the first US-made F-16s have arrived in Ukraine. Countermeasure: Russia has begun the third stage of non-strategic nuclear exercises,”, the US military wrote on the X social network.
Yesterday, the Bloomberg agency reported that Ukraine received the first promised Western F-16 fighter jets. The AP agency also confirmed the news. It is not clear exactly how many planes the Ukrainian Air Force received, but their number is not large.
Against this background, the Russian media, citing the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, reported that Russia has started the third stage of exercises to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
„In accordance with the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, the third stage of the exercises of the non-strategic nuclear forces has begun,” said in a statement of the military department. The current stage of the exercise is aimed at maintaining the readiness of the personnel and equipment of the units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons of Russia for the performance of combat tasks.
Russia says the United States and its European allies are pushing the world to the brink of nuclear confrontation by giving Ukraine billions of dollars worth of weapons, some of which are being used against Russian territory, Reuters reports.
The first batch of the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets has arrived in Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis said, quoted by Reuters. F-16 fighter jets, which are manufactured by the company "Lockheed Martin", have long been requested by Ukraine due to their combat power and global availability. The F-16 fighter has a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs and missiles. F-16 fighters in Ukraine. Another impossible thing that turned out to be completely possible," Landsbergis said on the social network X.