Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, expressed confidence that Ukraine will still receive F-16 fighter jets and urged Ukrainians not to be afraid of the Kremlin's threatening statements.

Kuleba's commented in response to the statement of Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, that Russia would consider the West providing Ukraine with fighter jets as a "nuclear threat".

Kuleba stressed that "Russia's only threat is a Ukrainian soldier", and it is the Ukrainian military that Putin and the Russian leadership should be most afraid of. 

"Ukraine will receive F-16s on schedule. Russia will swallow it despite Lavrov’s tongue-rattling," Dmytro Kuleba said.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said that Russia would consider Western countries providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets as a threat in the nuclear sphere because nuclear weapons could potentially be fixed on their bases.

On Tuesday, 11 partner countries, together with Ukraine, signed a memorandum defining the conditions for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters.

Dmytro Kuleba suggested that Western fighters may appear in the Ukrainian Sky in early spring 2024.