Russiaβs deputy foreign minister has warned Western countries of βenormous risksβ if Ukraine is provided with F-16 fighter jets, Russian state media TASS reported Saturday.
The comments come after US President Joe Biden gave his backing for Ukrainian pilots to be trained to fly F-16s, reversing his previous position.
F-16s are considered high performance weapon systems with a range of 500 miles (860 kilometers), and would be an upgrade to the aircraft currently in Ukraineβs fleet.
Responding to the move, Alexander Grushko said: βWe see that the Western countries are still adhering to the escalation scenario.