Washington said a Russian fighter plane caused a US spy drone to crash into the Black Sea on Tuesday, marking the first direct encounter between US and Russian forces since Moscow invaded Ukraine more than a year ago. Russia said the US drone intruded in an area declared off-limits and that fighter jets scrambled to intercept the drone but did not cause it to crash.
According to the Pentagon, two Russian Su-27 aircraft flew in front of the US MQ-9 Reaper drone, dumped fuel on it, and eventually one jet “struck the propeller” of the drone requiring US forces to bring it “down in international waters”.
Moscow says that due to “sharp” manoeuvres, “the US drone went into uncontrollable flight with a loss of altitude” and crashed.
The US State Department summoned Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his military commanders are unanimously in favour of defending the eastern front line, including Bakhmut.
Danish government establishes $1 bln fund to aid Ukraine
The Danish government and a broad majority of parties in Denmark’s parliament have agreed to establish a fund of 7 billion Danish crowns ($1.01 billion) for civil, military and business aid to Ukraine, the finance ministry has said.
“This is largely a reflection of the wishes Ukraine has, which in addition to the military and the humanitarian aid are now also about reconstruction,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told journalists.
Danish government establishes $1 bln fund to aid Ukraine
The Danish government and a broad majority of parties in Denmark’s parliament have agreed to establish a fund of 7 billion Danish crowns ($1.01 billion) for civil, military and business aid to Ukraine, the finance ministry has said.
“This is largely a reflection of the wishes Ukraine has, which in addition to the military and the humanitarian aid are now also about reconstruction,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told journalists.
Zelenskyy dismisses governors of three regions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed the governors of three regions: Luhansk in the east, Odessa on the Black Sea in the south and Khmelnytskyi in the west.
No reason was given in the announcement by the government’s parliamentary representative.
Ukrainian military commanders in favour of defending eastern front line
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that military commanders were unanimously in favour of defending the eastern front line, including the ruined city of Bakhmut, which has been under siege by Russia for months.
“The main focus was on … Bakhmut,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “There was a clear position of the entire command: Strengthen this sector and destroy the occupiers to the maximum.”
Russia calls on US to halt ‘hostile’ flights after collision
Russia’s ambassador to the United States has called on Washington to stop “hostile” flights near his country’s border, after an American drone was intercepted by Russian fighters over the Black Sea.
“We assume that the United States will refrain from further speculation in the media and stop flights near Russian borders,” ambassador Anatoly Antonov wrote on Telegram. “We consider any action with the use of US weaponry as openly hostile.”
Moscow sees US drone incident as provocation, says Russian ambassador
Moscow views the incident involving a Russian Su-27 fighter jet and a US military drone over the Black Sea as provocation, Russia’s RIA state news agency cited Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States.
“We view this incident as a provocation,” Antonov said after being summoned by the US State Department.
US senator calls drone crash ‘reckless act’ by Putin
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the incident that led to the crash of a US Reaper surveillance drone “another reckless act” by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military.
“I want to tell Mr. Putin, Stop this behavior before you are the reason for an unintended escalation,” Schumer said in remarks opening the US Senate.
Kyiv condemns ‘kidnappings’ as Russians foster Ukrainian kids
At their home in the middle of Siberia, Russian pastor Roman Vinogradov and his wife Yekaterina are the new foster parents of five children from Moscow-occupied eastern Ukraine.
The Vinogradovs are experienced fosterers now raising 16 children, including four of their own, and say they just want to help those who are “very much in need”.
But Ukraine and human rights groups have condemned the forced transfer of thousands of children into Russia or Moscow-controlled territory since the invasion last year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week referred to “kidnapping, forced adoption and re-education of Ukrainian children committed by Russia”, calling this “a war crime and a crime against humanity”.
‘Very sensitive stage’ says analyst about timing of drone crash
Commenting on the incident, Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said it was a “very sensitive stage in this conflict because it really is the first direct contact that the public knows about between the West and Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he invaded Ukraine to defend Russia from a hostile West bent on expanding into historically Russian territories.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is waging an unprovoked war of conquest that has destroyed Ukrainian cities, killed thousands of people and forced millions more to flee their homes.
US yet to confirm whether drone recovery under way
The US has not yet recovered the crashed Reaper drone and neither has Russia, the US Air Forces in Europe said in a statement.
US officials declined to say whether any effort was under way to gather debris or pieces of the MQ-9 Reaper, valued at more than $30m.
Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said the Russian Su-27 aircraft involved in the incident appeared to have been damaged but it did land, although Ryder would not say where.
This is not the first US Reaper to have been lost in recent years, including to hostile fire.
One was shot down in 2019 over Yemen with a surface-to-air missile, the US Central Command said at the time.
According to media reports, a US MQ-9 Reaper crashed in Libya in 2022, while another went down during a training exercise in Romania earlier in the same year.
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.