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WASHINGTON/KYIV – Washington’s top general said on Wednesday the crash of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian jets was part of Moscow’s increasingly aggressive behavior as the two countries traded blame over the incident.
Russia, in turn, told Washington to keep well away from its air space and said the encounter showed that the U.S. was directly participating in the Ukraine war, something the West has taken pains to avoid.
“There is a pattern of behavior recently where there is a little bit more aggressive actions being conducted by the Russians,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told reporters at the Pentagon.
While battles between Ukrainian troops and Russian forces raged on in eastern Ukraine, the drone incident on Tuesday was the first known direct U.S.-Russia encounter since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine about a year ago.
The U.S. military has said two Russian Su-27 fighter planes approached its MQ-9 Reaper drone on a reconnaissance mission over the Black Sea’s international waters. The fighters harassed the drone and sprayed fuel on it before one clipped the drone’s propeller, causing it to crash into the sea.
According to Russia, there was no collision. The drone crashed after making “sharp maneuvres”, having “deliberately and provocatively” flown close to Russian air space.
