U.S. releases video of Russian fighter jet intercepting drone over Black Sea
The U.S. military has released newly declassified video it says shows a Russian fighter jet harassing and colliding with an American drone over the Black Sea.
The U.S. military has released newly declassified video it says shows a Russian fighter jet harassing and colliding with an American drone over the Black Sea.
The video, released Thursday morning by the U.S. European Command and filmed from the drone's onboard camera, shows a Russian Su-27 jet conducting what Washington calls an "unsafe/unprofessional intercept of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 in international airspace" earlier this week.
U.S. officials earlier told NBC News that the Kremlin leadership had approved the aggressive actions of two Russian jets involved in the incident in an apparent effort to throw the drone off course or disable its surveillance capabilities.
Russia has denied its planes came “into contact” with the drone and said the United States was to blame, warning Washington to cease "hostile" surveillance flights near its borders to help Ukraine. The incident is the first known direct confrontation between the two superpowers since Moscow invaded its neighbor last year, and comes at a time of mounting tensions over Western support for Kyiv.
While the 43-second video has been edited for length and not verified by NBC News, the U.S. military said it shows the events in sequential order.
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