A Russian fighter jet collided with the rear propeller of an unmanned American aircraft. A military drone over the international waters of the Black Sea on Tuesday morning forced the US to shoot down a drone off the coast of Ukraine, USA. officials said.
The incident, which involved two Russian jets, was called “unsafe and unprofessional” by the US. State Department. The spokesman called it a “brazen violation of international law” that led to the Russian ambassador being summoned to a diplomatic meeting in Washington.
Subsequently, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov insisted that Russian aircraft did not shoot down or shoot at the drone.
On Tuesday, the Russians said the drone acted as an “intruder” and flew towards Russia’s borders.
US European Command, or EUCOM, called the incident “dangerous” and said in a statement that it could “lead to miscalculations and inadvertent escalations.”
OUTSIDE. The official was equally blunt, telling Daily News that the Russian pilot who shot down the drone, apparently unintentionally, was acting “reckless and childish.”
“At approximately 07:03 [local time], one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft crashed into the propeller of an MQ-9, causing US forces to shoot down the MQ-9 in international waters,” EUCOM said in a statement. statements.
EUCOM said the incident “demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to insecurity and unprofessionalism”.
“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel and flew in front of the MQ-9s in a reckless, environmentally unsafe and unprofessional manner,” EUCOM added.
The incident appears to be the latest in what EUCOM called “a pattern of dangerous behavior by Russian pilots when interacting with US and allied aircraft in international airspace, including over the Black Sea.”
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was performing routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and shot down by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the crash and total loss of the MQ-9,” the US said in a statement. Air Force General James B. Hecker, US Air Force Commander. Air Force in Europe and Africa, ”the message says. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional action by the Russians almost caused both planes to crash.”
“US and allied aircraft will continue to fly in international airspace, and we urge Russians to behave professionally and safely,” Hecker added.
An unarmed MQ-9 drone took off from Romania and was flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet in international airspace southwest of Crimea with a transponder on when it was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighters and an American fighter. This was reported to USA News by a representative of the Air Force.
Over the course of at least 30 minutes, the two planes made 19 close passes over the drone, the official said, spraying some of their jet fuel onto the craft during the last three or four such passes.
The collision occurred on the final flyover when one of the Su-27s was approaching the drone at high speed from behind, according to the official: as the plane was climbing up, it collided with the rear propeller of the MQ-9.
One of the MQ-9’s propeller blades bent in the collision, and despite a brief loss of contact, controllers were able to fly the drone into the Black Sea at a “decent distance” from the site of the collision.
“There is no concern that confidential information could be obtained from a drone, but the US is currently considering all options as it considers the next steps,” said another American. official.
The first official described the collision as the result of the “pure incompetence” of the Russian pilot, whose actions were “completely stupid”.
The official said Russian fighter jets sprayed their jet fuel on manned aircraft during previous clashes, but Tuesday’s incident was the first attempt to spray a U.S. drone. military drone.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder separately said on Tuesday that the Russian jet was able to land after the collision, but did not provide details. He said that Russia had not returned the drone.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that “it’s not uncommon for Russian planes to intercept US planes.” aircraft over the Black Sea, but this “for the first time” such a run-in “led to splashdown of one of our drones.”
According to Kirby, President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
United States Regularly conducts manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights in international airspace near Ukraine, without entering its territorial border of 12 miles.
The flights are part of the general US itinerary. intelligence efforts to obtain information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which dragged on for 13 months.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon that the US “engaged directly with the Russians” to communicate objections to what he called “an unsafe and unprofessional interception.”
“We are calling the Russian ambassador to the office where we will pass on this message,” he said, adding: “Meanwhile in Moscow, Ambassador [Lynn] Tracy passed on a serious message to the Russian Foreign Ministry.”
Sources subsequently told Jelly News that Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, arrived at the State Department Tuesday afternoon and met with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried “to discuss Russia’s unsafe and unprofessional operations over the Black Sea. as a result of which in the U.S. unmanned aircraft that was shot down today.”
Their meeting lasted almost an hour.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the American drone was flying “in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation” and that fighter jets were sent to intercept it.
“As a result of sharp maneuvering, the American drone went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the report says.
At his briefing, Price denied the Russian version of events. “We are not in a position to talk about what the Russians intended to do. We are not in a position to say what their motives might have been. We are able to talk about what happened,” he said.
Speaking outside the State Department after the meeting, Antonov told reporters that Russia had acted cautiously in responding to what it suspected might be a threat.
“What will be the reaction of the United States if you see such a Russian drone very close, for example, to San Francisco or New York?” Antonov asked rhetorically, later saying that he mentioned the same analogy with Assistant Secretary of State Donfried.
Of his meeting with Donfried, Antonov said: “We exchanged our remarks on this issue because we have some disagreements about what happened today, but it seems to me that it was a constructive conversation.”
A Russian fighter jet collided with a US Reaper drone, causing it to descend into the Black Sea in what the US military called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept.
A U.S. European Command statement said the collision occurred just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew towards an MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots attempted to sabotage the American plane before the collision.
“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel and flew in front of the MQ-9s in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” the US said in a statement. “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”
Then one of the Russian fighter jets hit the drone’s propeller, “causing US forces to shoot down the MQ-9 in international waters.”
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said Russian jets were in close proximity to the drone for about half an hour and that the Su-27 that collided with it was likely damaged.
“Basically, he collided with an MQ-9,” Ryder said. It is assumed that the Russian Su-27 landed at an air base in the occupied Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied that there had been any collision and suggested that the drone was shot down due to mishandling by the pilot.
The downed $32 million drone has sparked a race to find the wreckage as it contains some of the most advanced US technology and will be a surprise find for Russian intelligence if it gets to the plane first.
“As far as I know, the Russians have not returned this aircraft at the moment,” General Ryder said Tuesday afternoon.
A European command statement warned: “These aggressive actions by the Russian crew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculations and unintentional escalations.”
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was on a routine mission in international airspace when it was intercepted and shot down by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the crash and total loss of the MQ-9,” said Gen. James Hecker, US Air Force Commander Europe and Europe. Africa, said. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional action by the Russians almost caused both planes to crash.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its fighters “did not use airborne weapons or make contact” with the American drone.
The ministry said fighter jets from its air defense forces were alerted to identify the drone, which the ministry claims was heading “in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation.”
“As a result of sharp maneuvering around 9.30 (Moscow time), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the agency said in a statement. their base.
This is the first collision between Russian and NATO aircraft since Russia’s full-scale invasion just over a year ago, but it highlighted the danger of a collision leading to an escalation due to mistake or miscalculation as Russian and NATO forces deploy more and more military equipment around. Ukraine – risks compounded by reckless behavior.
“My main concern, both there and in the Pacific, is that an aggressive Russian or Chinese pilot or ship captain gets too close, does not understand where they are, and causes a collision,” said the head of the US Marine Corps, General David Berger.
The European Command statement said the incident was part of a “scheme of dangerous actions by Russian pilots when interacting with US and allied aircraft in international airspace, including over the Black Sea.”
At the White House on Tuesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “Of course, this is not the first interception in recent weeks.”
But Kirby added, “This is the first time an intercept has resulted in one of our drones ‘splattering’.”
He said Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident, and State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US had summoned Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov to “express our strong objections.”
He stressed that the American drone was operating over international waters and that the collision would not prevent American forces from patrolling the Black Sea.
“The US will continue to operate in international airspace over international waters,” Kirby said. “The Black Sea does not belong to anyone.”
Antonov later said that Moscow viewed the incident as a “provocation”, but said that Moscow did not want a confrontation with the US.
Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, said the incident was just the latest in a long series of episodes she called “forced signaling” by Russian forces. It was the first time she had heard of a Russian jet dumping fuel on a NATO aircraft, but she said it was “consistent with a broader signal escalation pattern before getting too close to the platform.”
“In this case, the Su-27 pilot allegedly hit the propeller, damaging the MQ-9 – probably a passage designed to force it to change course – which came too close,” Massicot tweeted.
Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School and an expert on international law and the use of force, noted that by dumping fuel and shooting down a drone, a Russian pilot is “further polluting the fragile Black Sea.” The US did not call the interception “illegal”.
“In all likelihood, the Reaper was spying on Ukraine. Under the laws of armed conflict, Russia can thwart such aid,” O’Connell said.
A Russian fighter jet crashed into the propeller of an American plane. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law” that resulted in U.S. forces shooting down a U.S. drone. said.
But Russia insisted that its warplanes did not shoot down the MQ-9 Reaper drone. Instead, the drone veered violently and plunged into the water after colliding with Russian fighter jets that took to the air to intercept it near Russian-occupied Crimea.
The incident, which added tension to the Russian-American conflict over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, appears to be the first time since the height of the US Cold War that a plane has been shot down after colliding with a Russian warplane.
President Biden was briefed on the incident by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, according to White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby. He added that US State Department officials would speak directly to their Russian counterparts and “express our concerns about this unsafe and unprofessional interception.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price called it “a brazen violation of international law.” He said the US had summoned the Russian ambassador to protest, and the US ambassador to Russia, Lynn Tracy, had made similar statements in Moscow.
United States European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted the drone while it was operating in international airspace. The report says that one of the Russian fighter jets hit the MQ-9 propeller, causing the US. forces to bring him down in neutral waters.
Prior to this, Su-27s dumped fuel on the MQ-9 and flew in front of it several times “recklessly, environmentally unsafe and unprofessional,” the US said. This is stated in the statement of the European command from Stuttgart, Germany.
“This incident demonstrates incompetence as well as insecurity and unprofessionalism,” the report said.
US Air Force General James B. Hecker, US Air Force Commander, European Air Force and African Air Force, said the drone was “performing routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and shot down by Russian aircraft, causing it to crash and completely lose the MQ- 9”. He added that “in fact, due to this unsafe and unprofessional action by the Russians, both planes almost crashed.”
Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the incident occurred at 7:03 am. Central European Time over international waters and away from Ukraine after Russian jets were in close proximity to the drone for 30-40 minutes. Ryder added that there was no communication between the planes before the collision.
The MQ-9 is capable of carrying ammunition, but Ryder did not say if it was armed. The United States did not recover the crashed drone, USA. This is stated in a statement by the European Air Force, as in Russia, Ryder said.
According to him, it looks like the Russian plane was also damaged in the collision, but the US plane. confirmed that he had landed, although Ryder did not say where exactly.
The Russian Defense Ministry said a U.S. drone flew over the Black Sea near Crimea and invaded an area Russia had declared off-limits as part of a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, causing the military to raise fighter jets to intercept it.
“As a result of a sharp maneuver, the MQ-9 drone went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and crashed into the water,” the report says. “The Russian fighters did not use weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base.”
This was stated by the Russian Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov. drone flight as a “provocation” and argued that there was no reason for US warplanes and warships to be near Russia’s borders.
Speaking after meeting with Karen Donfried, US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Antonov insisted that Russian warplanes did not shoot down a US drone or fire their weapons. He added that Moscow wants “pragmatic” ties with Washington, adding that “we don’t want any confrontation between the US and the US. and Russia”.
Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about US actions. reconnaissance flights near the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed. The Kremlin blamed the United States for this, supplying Ukraine with weapons and exchanging intelligence information with Kiev. and his allies were effectively drawn into the conflict.
Kirby emphasized that the incident would not stop the US. from continuing their missions in the area.
“If the message is that they want to deter or dissuade us from flying and operating in international airspace over the Black Sea, then that message will not be followed through,” Kirby said. “We are going to continue to fly and operate in international airspace over international waters. The Black Sea does not belong to any nation.”
United States European Command said the incident followed dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with the US. and Allied aircraft over international airspace, including over the Black Sea.
“These aggressive actions by the Russian crew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculations and unintended escalations,” he warned.
Gen. David Berger, commander of the Marine Corps, said these kinds of encounters were his biggest concern, both in this part of Europe and in the Pacific.
“Probably my biggest concern both there and in the Pacific is an aggressive Russian or Chinese pilot or ship captain, or something too close, not understanding where they are and causing a collision,” Berger said in response to a question. at the National Press Club event on Tuesday.
As fighting continued in Ukraine, a Russian rocket hit an apartment building in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring nine others in a major urban stronghold in the Donetsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video showing gaping holes in the façade of a low-rise building that took the brunt of the impact, damaging nine residential buildings, a kindergarten, a bank branch and two cars, the regional governor said. Pavel Kirilenko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a conversation with workers at a helicopter plant in southern Siberia, once again called the conflict in Ukraine existential for Russia.
“For us, this is not a geopolitical task,” Putin said, “it is the task of the survival of Russian statehood and the creation of conditions for the future development of our country.”
Russia welcomed the Chinese peace proposal, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kyiv’s refusal to negotiate left Moscow with only a military option.
“We must achieve our goals,” Peskov told reporters. “Given the current position of the Kyiv regime, now this is possible only by military means.”
The Russian onslaught focused on the devastated eastern town of Bakhmut, where Kievan troops repelled attacks for seven months and which became a symbol of resistance as well as the center of the war.
According to the president’s office, Zelensky discussed Bakhmut with the military leadership, and they were unanimous in their determination to resist the Russian onslaught.
“The defensive operation in [Bakhmut] is of paramount strategic importance for deterring the enemy. This is the key to the stability of the defense of the entire front line,” said Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Lolita S. Baldor, Tara Kopp, Zeke Miller, Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington DC and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
