Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister has warned the deployment of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Nato is a ‘direct nuclear threat’ to Russia.

Sergey Lavrov responded to Nato’s pledge to train Ukrainian pilots to use the fighter jets from August.

The Kremlin claims it warned the UK, US and France about the risks of providing the warplanes for Ukraine.

Lavrov said: ‘Just one example of an extremely dangerous turn of events is the United States plans to transfer F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime.

‘We have informed the nuclear powers, the United States, Britain and France, that Russia cannot ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons.

‘No amount of assurances will help here.’

Lavrov continued: ‘In the course of combat operations, our servicemen are not going to sort out whether each particular aircraft of this type is equipped to deliver nuclear weapons or not.

‘We will regard the very fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a threat from the West in the nuclear sphere.’

He also warned: ‘The United States and its Nato satellites are creating risks of a direct armed clash with Russia, and this is fraught with catastrophic consequences.

‘The conditions for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons are clearly defined in our military doctrine.

‘They are well known, and I will not repeat them once again.’

He also accused countries at the Nato summit which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, of ‘consistently lowering the threshold for the use of force and building up the nuclear capability in military planning’.

A key theme of this year’s summit was Volodymyr Zelensky’s wish for Ukraine to join Nato.

But defence secretary Ben Wallace said Zelensky needed to be mindful about keeping ‘doubting politicians’ on side following his complaints.

Mr Wallace said he needed to show more ‘gratitude’ to western allies for arming Ukraine and said ‘we’re not Amazon’.

In other news, Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who staged a coup against Vladimir Putin, is likely dead or in jail, a former US military leader said.

The mercenary leader ordered his soldiers to travel towards Moscow in a failed rebellion against the Kremlin in late June.

The Russian president said his former caterer’s actions amounted to ‘armed mutiny’, and Prigozhin is now feared dead by experts.

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