"The West is playing with fire".. Russia warns of the outbreak of a third world war that will not be limited to Europe

Russia warned the United States on Tuesday of a third world war that would not be limited to Europe, saying that allowing Ukraine to strike its territory with Western weapons was "playing with fire," while Kiev revealed that it was using American F-16 jets to confront the Russian escalation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West is seeking to escalate the war in Ukraine and is "looking for trouble by considering meeting Ukrainian requests to ease restrictions on the use of imported weapons," as he put it.

"They are like little children playing with matches, and we are now emphasizing once again that playing with fire is very dangerous for those who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in Western countries," he added.

Lavrov said that when talking about a third world war, "the Americans believe that this is something that will only affect Europe if it happens, God forbid," stressing that Russia's nuclear doctrine is clear.

Nuclear disaster warning

For his part, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned today, Tuesday, that the proximity of the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces to the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia is "extremely dangerous", because its reactors have become vulnerable.

"The proximity of a nuclear power plant of this type to a point of contact and a military front is a very dangerous fact," Grossi said after a visit to the Kursk plant.

F-16 aircraft

This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Tuesday that his country's forces used F-16 fighter jets received from its Western partners to repel the recent massive Russian air strikes.

"We destroyed the missiles and drones using F-16s," he added, also reiterating that the number of aircraft Kyiv received was "not enough."

On August 4, Zelensky announced the receipt of the first Western F-16 fighter jets after a wait of more than two years.

Control of 100 Russian towns

While Ukrainian Army Commander General Oleksandr Syrsky announced today that his country's forces are continuing to advance in the Russian Kursk region, he warned that Moscow is strengthening its forces on the Pokrovsk front.

He stressed that the Ukrainian attack on the Kursk region, which has been ongoing for 3 weeks, has currently resulted in the control of 100 towns.

He pointed out that Russian forces are trying to launch a counterattack in the area and encircle Ukrainian forces, which have repelled these attempts.

Russia says Ukraine is using Western-supplied weapons during its assault on Kursk, including British tanks and US missile systems, while Kiev has confirmed the use of US HIMARS missiles to destroy bridges in the Russian zone.

Despite Washington's attempts to deny any knowledge of Ukrainian plans before the surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, confirmed today that Moscow does not believe the West's claim that it had nothing to do with the attack on Kursk.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said that US involvement in the attack was an "obvious fact."

For its part, the American newspaper, The New York Times, said that the United States and Britain provided Ukraine with satellite images and other information about the Kursk region in the days following the Ukrainian attack.

The newspaper added that the intelligence information was intended to help Ukraine track Russian reinforcements in the region.

Source: Al Jazeera + AFP + Reuters