Putin with new statements about the war: – Do not hesitate!

Vladimir Putin says that “F-16 aircraft can carry nuclear weapons, and we will take that into account.”

Thursday 28 March at 09:20

Russia’s recently re-elected president visited an air defense center in the Tver region on Wednesday. There he threatened to shoot down Ukrainian F-16 planes.

There he made a number of statements about the war in Ukraine and aid from the West:

• – If they deliver F-16 aircraft to Ukraine, this will not change the situation on the battlefield.
• – We will destroy the planes in the same way as we destroy tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment today, including rocket artillery systems.
• – F-16 are carriers of nuclear weapons. And this is also something we have to take into account.
• – The idea that we want to attack another country – Poland, the Baltic states and the Czech Republic – is complete nonsense. It’s just rubbish.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the planes would arrive in Ukraine in the coming months.

Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands are among the countries that have pledged to donate F-16 aircraft. A coalition of countries has pledged to help train Ukrainian pilots to operate these planes.

Professor emeritus Kristian Gerner at Lund University reacts to Putin’s statements as follows:

– The problem is that we have learned that we can never trust what Putin says. He bluffs so often, says Gerner to VG.

– Therefore, it will be very difficult for him to be believed. When he says that they will not attack new NATO countries, a thought creeps in that he is saying it so that NATO will lower its guard.

– In any case, there is no military threat to Russia from the eastern NATO countries. Perhaps Putin’s intention is to slow NATO’s rearmament in Poland and the Baltic countries.

At the same time, Ukraine now claims that Russia may have used a new precision bomb in an attack against the large city of Kharkiv. The police chief in the area, Volodymyr Tymoshko, says this.

– It is, so to speak, a flying bomb, says Tymoshko after an attack on a residential area on Wednesday.

His statements are supported by the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synjehubov:

– The Russians have apparently decided to test their modified bombs against homeowners.

Moscow has denied that they are targeting civilians.

Two blocks and a health clinic were partially destroyed in Wednesday’s attack.