Putin Says Russia Will Not Attack NATO, but F-16s Will Be Shot Down in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks to military pilots at the 344th State Centre for combat use and retraining of flight crews of the Russian Defense Ministry in the town of Torzhok in the Tver Region, Russia, on March 27, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters

MOSCOW—Russia has no designs on any NATO country and will not attack Poland, the Baltic states, or the Czech Republic but if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine then they will be shot down by Russian forces, President Vladimir Putin said late on Wednesday.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.