The US military released footage Thursday of the Russian military intercepting its drone over the Black Sea, showing a fighter spraying the aircraft with fuel in a clearly aggressive move.
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The declassified images broadcast on the site of the command of the American armed forces in Europe last about forty seconds and show a Russian Sukhoi 27 passing twice just above the drone, after having approached it from behind.
On the first pass, no shock is visible between the two devices, nor anything that seems to justify the fall of the drone. The maneuver “disrupts the video transmission”, comments the site of the American army in Europe, which notes that the propeller of the drone “can be seen and remains intact”.
During a second pass, without it being established whether it is the same fighter or a second one, the maneuver is similar but the aircraft passes even closer to the drone. The transmission of the images is then interrupted. When it resumes, “the propeller can be seen again and one can see that one of the blades is damaged”, comments the US Air Force.
On Tuesday, General James Hecker, commander of US air forces in Europe, said an MQ-9 Reaper performing “routine operations in international airspace” had been intercepted by Su-27 fighters and then “rammed by a Russian plane, resulting in the crash and loss” of the drone.
While acknowledging that two fighters had come to intercept the drone, Russia claimed not to be responsible for its fall.
It is the first time since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 that a NATO country has admitted losing equipment operated by itself in this highly flammable region.
Moscow claims to want to fish out the drone to prove, in its view, the involvement of the United States in the operations in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said one of the causes of the incident was the “strengthening” of US spy operations.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for his part stressed that the United States would continue to fly “where international law permits”.