Vladimir Putin says Russia will not attack NATO, but F-16 fighter jets will be shot down in Ukraine? Russia has no plans to attack a NATO state, but if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine they will be shot down and any bases they take off from will be legitimate targets, President Vladimir Putin says. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Speaking to Russian air force pilots on Wednesday, Mr Putin said the US-led military alliance had expanded eastwards towards Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union but that Moscow had no plans to attack a NATO state. “We have no aggressive intentions towards these states,” Mr Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released on Thursday. “The idea that we will attack some other country — Poland, the Baltic States, and the Czechs are also being scared — is complete nonsense. It’s just drivel.” The Kremlin, which accuses the US of fighting against Russia by supporting Ukraine with money, weapons and intelligence, says relations with Washington have probably never been worse.