HIROSHIMA /Japan/, May 21. /TASS/. Kiev promises not to use F-16 fighter jets the West is planning to supply it with to try to move into Russia, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday after the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima.

When asked whether there are any guarantees that the supplies of F-16 jets would not trigger the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine, he said, "I have a flat assurance from [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky that they will not, they will not use it to go on and move into Russian geographic territory." "But wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine <…> they would be able to do that (use F-16s)," he added.

Adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Mikhail Podolyak said on Saturday that the West has already made a decision to supply F-16 fighter jets to Kiev. According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov, Ukrainian pilots "are looking forward to beginning training onboard F-16s."

NBC reported on Friday that the United States and its allies were planning to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets. On the following day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko slammed this decision, saying that the West continued to follow the path of escalation of the Ukrainian conflict and warned that Moscow would take that into account in its plans.