Russia warns West sending F-16s to Ukraine ‘carries enormous risks’

Russia's comments come in the wake of the U.S. getting behind a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to use F-16s | Ezra Acayan/Getty ImagesThe West’s effort to potentially send modern fighter jets to Ukraine “carries enormous risks,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency TASS. The minister’s comments in an interview with TASS come in the wake of the U.S. getting behind a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots to use modern fighter aircraft including F-16s. This could also pave the way to eventually send advanced Western combat jets to Ukraine, according to a senior administration official. “We can see that Western countries continue to stick to an escalation scenario, which carries enormous risks for them,” Grushko said in the interview. The decision from the U.S. follows a concerted effort by Ukraine to get its allies to supply its military with modern jets, in particular the U.S.-built F-16s.