MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Western countries will not accomplish anything by supplying F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as Russia will in any case continue its special military operation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the International Affairs journal which came out on Tuesday.

"Russia’s response [to the F-16 supplies] will be the systematic continuation of efforts to attain the goals of the special military operation. <…> They continue trying to ‘chase two geopolitical rabbits’ and catch none in various spheres, which is typical of the Americans. But they won’t achieve anything with their F-16s," he said.

"Or with any other systems they have already supplied or are planning to supply to Ukraine," he said, adding that "all the rest who have become one singing their mantras about inflicting a strategic defeat to Russia" won’t achieve anything either.

US President Joe Biden told a news conference after the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on May 21 that the West planned to begin training Ukrainian pilots, including on the use of F-16s. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in turn, said that Washington and its allies would discuss the list of potential countries who could deliver F-16s to Kiev in the next few months.