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The Pentagon has released footage of what it says is a Russian plane intercepting a US air force surveillance drone in international airspace over the Black Sea.
The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the rear of the MQ-9 drone and beginning to drop fuel as it passes, the Pentagon said. Dumping the fuel appears to be intended to cover the optical instruments and drive them out of the area.
On the second approach, either the same jet or another Russian fighter that had shadowed the MQ-9 struck the drone’s propeller, damaging one of the blades, according to the US military.
The US military said it released an MQ-9 Reaper at sea after what it described as a Russian fighter intercepting an unsafe unmanned aerial vehicle.
Video excerpts released by the Pentagon do not show events before or after the fuel-dumping confrontation.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley have spoken to their Russian counterparts about the destruction of US drones after encounters with Russian fighter jets.
The phone call with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Chief of General Staff General Valery Gerasimov was the first since October.
Not common
While attempted interceptions are not uncommon, events in the middle of the war in Ukraine have raised concerns that the United States and Russia may be moving closer to direct conflict.
WATCH | A former US marine said the incident showed Russia was ‘happy to get involved’:
Former US marine Elliot Ackerman said the length of time Russia devoted to following US drones in the Black Sea and the way he believed the drones were brought down showed Russia was ready to engage in ‘escalator activity.’
The two countries’ top defense and military leaders spoke shortly after the meeting on the Black Sea to emphasize its seriousness.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a telephone report with Austin that Shoigu accused the US of causing the incident by ignoring a Kremlin-imposed flight ban due to military operations in Ukraine.
Russia also blamed “intensification of intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation.”
The US action “comes with the escalation of the situation in the Black Sea region,” the Defense Ministry said, warning that Russia “will respond to all provocations.”
The MQ-9, which has a wingspan of 20 meters, includes a ground control station and satellite equipment. It can carry ammunition, but Air Force Brig.-Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, would not say whether the downed drone was armed.
Ryder said the incident happened at 7:03 Central European time through international waters, and also clear from Ukraine, after the Russian jet had flown near the drone for 30 to 40 minutes.
There was no communication between the planes before the collision, Ryder said.
The U.S. has not recovered the crashed drone, U.S. Air Forces in Europe said in a statement, and neither has Russia, Ryder said. Russian officials said on Wednesday that they would try to salvage MQ-9 fragments from the Black Sea.
US officials have opened up the possibility of trying to recover parts of a downed $32 million US drone, which they say crashed into water 1,200 to 1,500 meters deep.
Other US officials said the US had no military ships in the area, and would not seek to recover the wreckage.
However, he expressed his belief that there would be no military value in drones if Russia could retrieve the wreckage.
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