A Russian fighter jet pressured down a US Air Pressure drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, in line with the US army.
The Reaper drone and two Russian Su-27 plane had been flying over worldwide waters over the Black Sea on Tuesday when one of many Russian jets deliberately flew in entrance of and dumped gasoline on the unmanned drone a number of occasions, an announcement from US European Command mentioned.
The plane then hit the propeller of the drone, prompting US forces to deliver the MQ-9 drone down in worldwide waters. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder added Tuesday that the Russian plane flew “within the neighborhood” of the drone for 30 to 40 minutes earlier than colliding simply after 7 a.m. Central European Time.
“Our MQ-9 plane was conducting routine operations in worldwide airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian plane, leading to a crash and full lack of the MQ-9,” Air Pressure Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, mentioned within the assertion. “The truth is, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians almost prompted each plane to crash.”
The incident marks the primary time Russian and US army plane have come into direct bodily contact since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine simply over a 12 months in the past and is more likely to improve tensions between the 2 nations, with the US calling Russia’s actions “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional.”
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov mentioned that Russia doesn’t need “confrontation” between his nation and the US after he was summoned to the State Division following the downing of the drone.
“We want to not create a state of affairs the place we will face unintended clashes or unintended incidents between the Russian Federation and the USA,” Antonov mentioned.
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