Illustrative photo – The picture shows the pre-flight preparation of the American MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle in a photo taken on January 23, 2018 in Kandahar.
Washington/Kiev/Moscow – The United States has not yet recovered its drone that crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday, and it is not clear whether they will ever be able to retrieve it, White House spokesman John Kirby said today in an interview with CNN. According to Washington, the drone crashed due to contact with a Russian fighter jet in international airspace, Moscow claims that the drone was “provocatively” moving towards Russian territory, but no Russian aircraft collided with it.
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“I'm not sure we'll be able to secure it,” said Kirby, who is a White House spokesman. He said in an earlier interview that the US is taking steps to ensure the machine does not fall into foreign hands.
The US military said on Tuesday that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with a US MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drone, knocking out its propeller. The drone was destroyed. According to the Pentagon, the incident happened due to “dangerous and unprofessional” behavior on the part of the Russian side. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that the American plane went down due to a sharp maneuver and that the Russian fighter jets did not come into contact with it.
The US summoned the Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov over the incident, who accused the Americans of provocation. According to Kirby, he received a warning from the US side that the Russians must be more careful when flying in international airspace near US aircraft. According to Ukrainian sources, Wednesday's incident took place near Snake Island, which lies near the Danube Delta in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
Moscow said it considers the incident with the downed drone a provocation
Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, called Tuesday's incident, in which an American drone crashed into the Black Sea after a possible collision with a Russian fighter jet, a provocation. According to the diplomat, the American side did not say whether this matter will have any consequences for Russia. This was reported by the Reuters agency. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the drone had full right to operate over the Black Sea, the incident took place in international airspace near Snake Island.
The US military said on Tuesday that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with a US MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drone, knocking out its propeller. The drone was destroyed. According to the Pentagon, the incident happened due to “dangerous and unprofessional” behavior on the part of the Russian side. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims that the American plane went down due to a sharp maneuver and that the Russian fighter jets did not come into contact with it.
“The American drone deliberately and provocatively moved towards Russian territory with transponders turned off,” Antonov said in a statement published on the website of the Russian Embassy in Washington. After being summoned to the US State Department in connection with the incident on Tuesday, the diplomat announced, according to Russian agencies, that “we consider the incident a provocation”.
Antonov also said that US drones were gathering intelligence information, which Ukraine uses it to strike at Russian armed forces and territory. According to RIA Novosti, Antonov also said that his meeting at the US State Department was “constructive” and the question of possible “consequences” for Russia due to the incident was not raised.
“We believe it is important to keep communication channels open,” the Russian embassy in the US also said. “Russia does not seek confrontation and stands for pragmatic cooperation in the interests of the peoples of our countries,” the statement said.
The presence of an American drone over the Black Sea last night was defended by Ukrainian officials. “The Black Sea is not an inland sea of Russia, as is the case with the occupied Sea of Azov, which (the Russians) consider theirs,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said. He reminded that the sea is used by many countries, including NATO member states, such as Turkey and Romania.
Ihnat told the Ukrainska pravda newspaper that the collision between the two planes took place southeast of Snake Island, which is located in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. According to him, American drones, with the consent of Kyiv, were monitoring the airspace of Ukraine long before Russia's full-scale invasion last February and were monitoring the situation in the east of Ukraine, including compliance with a possible ceasefire.
