President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has warned that if F-16 fighter jets equipped to Ukraine by its Western allies operated from airfields in different international locations, the bases can be “authentic targets” for assault.
In a speech to Russian Air Drive pilots late Wednesday, nonetheless, Mr. Putin rejected ideas from some Western leaders that Russia is planning to invade NATO international locations as “full nonsense.”
The menace that Russia would possibly transfer in opposition to different international locations has develop into one of many essential arguments utilized by the Ukrainian authorities and its supporters to attempt to persuade the U.S. to dispatch extra army help to the nation.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, mentioned once more in an interview with CBS Information printed on Thursday that battle “can come to Europe, and to the US of America.”
“It will probably come in a short time to Europe,” mentioned Mr. Zelensky.
On the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a decision that may have prolonged U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea’s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was performing to maintain the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans to be used in Ukraine.
The Russian vote — a reversal from its previous assist for the monitoring program — drew condemnation from world leaders. In the US, the White Home nationwide safety spokesman, John Kirby, referred to as it a “reckless motion” that made clear the rising ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
The vote got here a day after Mr. Putin visited the provincial city of Torzhok within the Tver area north of Moscow, the place he inspected a coaching middle for Russian army pilots.
Talking with the pilots, Mr. Putin mentioned that Russia spent solely a fraction on its army of what the US does. “Contemplating this distinction,” he mentioned, considerations that Moscow would combat NATO are “nonsense.”
Mr. Putin additionally reiterated his argument that NATO’s enlargement within the wake of the Soviet collapse was the first motive for his determination to assault Ukraine in 2022.
“Did we cross the ocean and strategy U.S. borders?” he requested. “No, they’re those who’re closing in on us, they usually have reached our borders.”
However Mr. Putin did depart open the door to an expanded battlefield when it got here to the choice by Ukraine’s allies to equip it with American-made F-16 fighter jets.
“F16 plane may also carry nuclear weapons, and we must heed this whereas organizing our fight operations,” mentioned Mr. Putin.
On the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a decision that may have prolonged U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea’s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was performing to maintain the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans to be used in Ukraine.
Ukraine has additionally figured giant within the Kremlin’s response to the terrorist assault that killed a minimum of 143 individuals final week at a live performance corridor exterior Moscow.
Since shortly after the assault, Mr. Putin and different Russian officers, with out proof, have depicted Ukraine because the seemingly mastermind behind it. Mr. Putin finally acknowledged that the assault had been “perpetrated by radical Islamists,” however caught with the competition that Ukraine may have ordered it.
On Thursday, persevering with in that vein, Russia’s investigative committee, the nation’s equal to the F.B.I., mentioned in an announcement that it had “obtained proof” that the attackers have been “related with Ukrainian nationalists,” with out specifying what that proof was.
Investigators mentioned that they’d “confirmed knowledge that the perpetrators of the terrorist assault acquired vital quantities of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine, which have been utilized in getting ready the crime.” In addition they mentioned that one other particular person had been arrested in reference to the assault and would quickly seem in courtroom.
The Ukrainian authorities has denied any involvement within the assault. America and different Western governments have mentioned repeatedly that the Islamic State — which itself has issued two claims of accountability — was behind the assault and that Ukraine was not concerned.
With 74 victims of the live performance corridor assault nonetheless hospitalized, Mr. Putin has but to go to them or to go to the location of the assault. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman mentioned on Thursday that Mr. Putin had been closely concerned within the rescue effort on the evening of the assault, and {that a} go to to the location of the assault would hinder their work.
Emin Agalarov, an govt with the proprietor of the live performance corridor, the Crocus Group, on Thursday defended how his workers had dealt with the assault and its aftermath, together with a hearth within the corridor, and the constructing’s compliance with fireplace security and safety necessities. Talking on state tv, Mr. Agalarov mentioned that the fireplace and different emergency programs had labored usually and allowed hundreds of individuals to evacuate the constructing.
