42-second video shows Russian plane approaching drone and beginning to release fuel as it passes. Then a jet, possibly a different one, strikes the drone’s propeller.
The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a US Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea. The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone and beginning to release fuel as it passes, the Pentagon said. Dumping the fuel appeared to be aimed at blinding its optical instruments and driving it out of the area. On a second approach, either the same jet, or another Russian fighter that had been shadowing the MQ-9, struck the drone’s propeller, damaging one blade, according to the US military. The US military said it ditched the MQ-9 Reaper in the sea after what it described as the Russian fighter making an unsafe intercept of the unstaffed aerial vehicle. The video excerpt released by the Pentagon does not show events before or after the apparent fuel-dumping confrontation . Russia said its warplanes did not strike the drone and claimed it went down after making a sharp manoeuvre over the sea. Asked on Thursday if Russia would try to recover the drone debris, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the decision was up to the military. “If they consider it necessary to do so in the Black Sea for the benefit of our interests and our security, they will do it,” he said.
