Russia Honors Pilots Who Harassed, Collided With U.S. Drone

Russian Defense Ministry announced Friday that the Russian government honored two pilots involved with the downing of a U.S. drone in the Black Sea earlier this month. 

A spy drone US MQ-9 Reaper costing $32 million was purchased Harassed by Russian pilots, who dumped fuel on it before one of the Russian fighter jets collided with the surveillance drone’s propeller — causing U.S. forces to bring the drone down in international waters. Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister, celebrated Friday’s actions. He claimed that they prevented the drone flying into Russian airspace. reported.

U.S. officials release Video A Russian Su-27 flew very close to the U.S. drone in the incident of Thursday. Also, the footage shows damage to the propeller of the drone after it was swarmed by Russian jets. 

#BREAKING US army published the footage from the drone incident with Russia over the Black Sea pic.twitter.com/ney41fNjGb

— Guy Elster (@guyelster) March 16, 2023

“Two Russian Su-27 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a U.S. Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft operating within international airspace over the Black Sea on March 14, 2023,” U.S. European Command made the following statement. “Russian Su-27s dumped fuel upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters.”

 The AP reported that some Russian officials accuse the U.S.of conducting surveillance flights in order to assist the Ukrainians with their strikes on Russian targets. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed that this week’s surveillance by the U.S. drone was evidence of the increasingly hostile U.S. actions toward Russia during the conflict with Ukraine. 

“The Americans keep saying that they are not participating in hostilities,” Patrushev made these claims during a press conference. “This is yet another confirmation that they are directly involved in these events, in the war.”

The White House condemned Russia’s actions “reckless” But it did not say whether the Russian pilots deliberately shot down the U.S. drone. 

“Incidents happen,” General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “And clearly we do not seek armed conflict with Russia and I believe at this point we should investigate this incident and move on from there.”

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Ryan Saavedra was a contributor to this report. 

“From Russia Honors U.S. Drone Pilots Who Harassed and Collided“

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