Western countries will be running “colossal risks” if they supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, the Tass news agency quoted the Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, as saying on Saturday.
The US president, Joe Biden, told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters, senior US officials said.
Meanwhile, AF24NEWS earlier reported that Kyiv’s air defences successfully repelled a new Russian drone attack overnight but falling debris caused some damage in the Ukrainian capital.
Agence France-Presse reports that the head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in an update on Telegram:
This night, the aggressor again carried out a massive drone attack. All detected air targets were destroyed by the forces and means of our air defence. No strikes on Kyiv were performed!
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Falling debris caused a fire in a residential building in Darnytskyi district but it was extinguished without casualties, he said.
Debris also caused some damage in three other districts, he said, but there was no immediate report of casualties.
Popko said it was the 11th air attack on Kyiv since the start of May.
At 12:45 am on Saturday local time, the Ukrainian army said drones were heading towards the Kyiv region.
Explosions were reported there by authorities and also in the city of Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv. The exiled council of Russian-occupied Mariupol also reported explosions in the city on the Sea of Azov.
Air defence systems were active in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, according to the Ukrainian military.
