“F-16s and airfields of their basing outside Ukraine will become a legitimate target for the Russian military if they participate in combat sorties.”
The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, has said that F-16s and their airfields outside Ukraine will become a legitimate target for the Russian military if they take part in combat operations and then return to the country of their home base.
“If they are not used for their direct purpose, they will not be [a legitimate target for the Russian Armed Forces], but if they take part in combat sorties, they certainly will. Including the airfields where they are based, with all the ensuing consequences,” Kartapolov said.
He noted that claims will not arise only if the F-16s will be on foreign airfields in storage, from where they will be transported to Ukraine, and they will start flying from Ukrainian airfields.
“But if they take off from airfields of some country, enter Ukrainian airspace, launch missiles and return there, then this is a legitimate target,” Kartapolov explained.
Earlier today, the head of aviation of the command of the Air Force of the AFU Sergei Golubtsov said that part of the fighters F-16, which will be transferred to Ukraine, will be placed at air bases abroad. According to him, this is necessary, among other things, to prevent the planes from becoming “targets” at Ukrainian bases.
