Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Russian forces are ready to shoot down the first batch of F-16 fighters that arrived in Ukraine and that they will not be a "panacea" for the Kiev army, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Lithuanian and US officials confirmed yesterday that Ukraine has received the first batch of long-awaited aircraft, which are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can be armed with bombs and missiles.
Peskov refused to comment on the information that appeared in the media that in the near future there will be an exchange of prisoners between Russia and the USA.
Signs that a large-scale prisoner swap between Russia and Belarus, on the one hand, and the US, Germany, Slovenia and Britain, on the other, may be imminent, increased yesterday when several Russian dissidents and activists disappeared from prisons, in who are serving their sentences, according to Reuters. Yesterday, Agence France-Presse noted that according to their relatives and NGOs, they had been transferred to an unknown location. "I'm not commenting yet," Peskov told reporters today.