U.S. forces had to shoot down the unmanned aerial vehicle in international waters after a Russian fighter jet hit its propeller on Tuesday over the Black Sea, according to the U.S. military.
The incident highlighted rising U.S.-Russian tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for national security at the White House, said the U.S. National security advisor Jake Sullivan briefed President Joe Biden about the situation.
According to a statement from the U.S. European Command, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets “conducted a dangerous and unprofessional intercept” of a U.S. aircraft. Above the Black Sea, an MQ-9 drone was flying in international airspace.
Before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 several times in “a reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional manner,” the U.S. claimed.
“One of the Russian fighters struck the propeller of the MQ-9, forcing U.S. forces to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters. In a statement from Stuttgart, Germany, European Command announced.
In addition to being dangerous and improper, it also showed a lack of skill.
Moscow, which has frequently expressed worry about American intelligence aircraft near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally took from Ukraine in 2014, did not respond immediately.
Amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, a Russian missile on Tuesday slammed an apartment building in the heart of Kramatorsk, one of the country’s largest cities and a bastion in the eastern Donetsk area. At least one person was killed, and nine others were injured.
The low-rise structure that took the brunt of the strike’s damage was shown in a video that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, put online.
Along with releasing pictures of the building with piles of rubble in front of it, the regional governor of Ukraine and the general prosecutor’s office in that country reported on the incident. According to Kyrylenko, the collision caused damage to two automobiles, a kindergarten, a nearby bank branch, and nine residential buildings.
Once Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the conflict broke out, killing many civilians.
According to Ukrainian authorities, at least seven civilians have been killed and 30 injured in the past 24 hours.
One of them, a 55-year-old woman, was murdered on Tuesday in a border village in northeastern Ukraine when a Russian shell struck her car.
The regional governor, Kyrylenko, claimed on Ukrainian television that Russian troops were attacking homes, schools, and hospitals and setting communities on fire and in ruins.
The Soviet advance has marked the region with both their blood and civilians’ (lost) lives.
The regional Ukrainian army headquarters are located in Kramatorsk. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian shelling has frequently been directed toward it.
Several people were killed, and over 100 were injured when a missile attack on the city’s train station occurred in April. Kyiv and many of the international community accused Russia of the attack.
The conflict in Ukraine is existential for Russia, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who made the accusation Tuesday during a meeting with workers at a helicopter factory in southern Siberia.
He claimed that unlike the West, which, he claimed, is attempting to increase its geopolitical clout, Russia is fighting for its very existence.
Putin stated, “For us, it’s not a geopolitical issue; it’s the task of ensuring the survival of the Russian statehood and setting up the framework for our nation’s future growth.
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