(Image: Getty Images) Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice An expert has warned “there will be a third world war” following
Vladimir Putin ’s latest threat. Referring to a pledge by some EU countries to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the
Russian president said other countries could become a legitimate target “wherever they are”. Swedish Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi of the Stockholm Defence University told Swedish news agency TT: “If Putin wants a war with NATO, that’s how you start it. Then it will be a third world war”. However Western fears
Russia would launch an assault on
NATO countries were branded “drivel” earlier this week by Putin - but he added a sinister warning to his statement. Read More Related Articles Teen fighting for life after gang brawl with 'knives and machetes' Read More Related Articles
fire crews battle huge blaze at "momentous" Scots council building on the market He also added Russia “must take into account” the fact the fighter jets, designed and built in the
USA but operated by 25 other nations, can carry
nuclear weapons. Lt Col Paasikivi said: “For Putin, it is important to constantly present the West as the major threat to the domestic audience. The West’s so-called nuclear threat is at the centre of the entire Russian narrative." (Image: Daily Mirror) Putin has dropped mentions of the potential for nuclear war several times since Russia invaded
Ukraine in an unprovoked attack in February 2022. He has suggested multiple times he would be willing to push the nuclear button should certain lines be crossed. The Mirror reports this latest round of threats contains a new detail that may shed light on a particular fear of Putin and his generals in charge of the war. “The same threats have been made in the past, but to so explicitly identify the F-16s and strike targets in the West is new,” Lt Col Paasikivi explained. Top news stories today Grieving parents demand justice for tot Dad's knife threat after school fight Mum threw weedkiller in cop's face Scots paedophile
prison death probe He said this shows Putin is concerned about Ukraine receiving F-16s and seeing its combat capability boosted. The sabre-rattling from Russia comes as a growing number of Ukrainian pilots are receiving training ahead of the delivery of the F-16s. Nations including Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and
Belgium have promised to provide Ukraine with 45
MILITARY aircraft - but the number could rise to 60 by the end of the year. Don't miss the latest news from around
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