Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov appears to have warned Washington that any strike on Crimea could be considered a strike on Russian territory by Nato after US president Joe Biden said he would support training for Ukrainian pilots on US F-16 fighter jets.

In remarks published on the embassy’s Telegram channel, Anatoly Antonov wrote:

"So far Washington is opposing us … by proxy. However, every specialist knows that there is no infrastructure for the use of F-16s in Ukraine, and the required number of pilots and maintenance personnel is not there either.

What would happen if American fighters take off from Nato airfields, operated by foreign ‘volunteers’?

I would like to warn representatives of the administration against thoughtless judgments on Crimea, especially in terms of “blessing” the Kiev regime for air attacks on the peninsula.

Let me remind you that strikes on this territory are considered by us as an attack on any other region of the Russian Federation. It is important that the United States is fully aware of the Russian response."