There are currently no airfields in Ukraine ready to receive and service American F-16s.
Photo: REUTERS.
President Vladimir Putin will respond harshly if the West allows Ukraine to attack Russian territory, Professor Gerhard Mangott said in Focus. The professor noted that such a step by Western countries would cause a further escalation of the situation, which could become uncontrollable, and then how Russia will react will be decisive. And Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested that statements by Western politicians indicate that Europe is preparing for war with Russia: “Before the two world wars, the media spent a lot of time preparing to enter the war. . “What is happening today in Brussels, more than in Washington, is a kind of preparation of the environment for a possible direct conflict.”
At Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda we discussed the issue with Viktor Litovkin, a military observer and retired colonel.
– How will Russia react to this?
– The Supreme Commander-in-Chief has already responded to this. Vladimir Putin said that if F-16s appear in the skies over Ukraine, we will consider them carriers of nuclear weapons. And we will attack the airfields from which they took off.
– In which countries?
– In Poland and Romania…
– That is, we will not pretend that the Khmelnitsky or Ivan-Frankivsk fighters took off?
– No. We have good intelligence. We know very well what, where and from where it takes off. And where does it land? That’s why for us there is no difference. It is unlikely that they exist in Ukraine.
– Without conditions?
– In Ukraine there are now no airfields prepared to receive the F-16s, service them and guide them in the sky. There must be a very serious infrastructure for the F-16.
– Isn’t a long, flat track enough for this?
– No. For this we need a command tower and radar stations that see further than what the pilot can see from an airplane. We need a technical and operational part, and this is a mini-factory where they will prepare the planes for departure and service them after returning. We need factories for the production of highly purified kerosene and high-pressure air. Hangars for the same aircraft, hangars for air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, etc.
– Ukraine does not have such a large infrastructure and cannot be built quickly?
– No. And we will not just look at whether they start building such airfields in Ukraine. We can reach any point in your territory. Therefore, an unenviable fate awaits the F-16 if it appears in Ukraine or if airfields are built for them.
– What if they take off from Poland or Romania?
– …We already know what will happen to them. And this will happen with anything else. Let me remind you of the message of our Foreign Office regarding the statement of Cameron, the British Foreign Secretary: if British weapons are fired at Russia from anywhere, we will strike not only on the territory of Ukraine, but also beyond its borders. .
– So we keep our promise and go on strike, but what response do we have? And by the way, where can the F-16s fly if we take the territory of Russia?
– The F-16 has a range of 600 kilometers. They will not fly far from the territory of Ukraine. If we take the extreme point on the border with Ukraine, somewhere near the Bryansk region, from there it is about 480 kilometers to Moscow. But the F-16s will not appear there.
– Because?
– Because they need to land somewhere, there should be an airfield somewhere, etc. Regarding the retaliatory attack. If we attack the territory of Poland, in this case no NATO will defend them. I have no information that the alliance has authorized F-16 flights eastward from Polish or Romanian territory. It will be a private initiative from Warsaw or Bucharest. NATO will definitely not defend them. The North Atlantic bloc as an organization does not need a war with Russia. Brussels understands that Russia is a nuclear missile power.
– By the way, did we remind you of this recently?
– During the exercises we show what we can do with tactical and non-strategic nuclear weapons. I do not mean to say that sober thinking prevails among them or that common sense has prevailed. But they understand that this could end sadly for them. We will not launch nuclear attacks against Ukraine, that is clear. This is our brother town. And he and I live in the same country. But we should not feel sorry for the Poles or the Romanians, any more than for the Germans and the French. And all kinds of statements from Cameron, Macron or anyone else in our direction are rhetoric. I don’t think this will get any further. They will only continue to supply weapons to kyiv.
– But did the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, remember that before the two world wars the media were “preparing the ground” to enter into conflict?
– He is a sensible person. And he warns European politicians that, guys, you are preparing for war, but do you understand who you will fight? With a country with nuclear missiles, yes. But there are few such sober thinkers in Europe and, by the way, a hunt has been announced for them…
