WHAT IS KNOWN SO FAR ABOUT DOWNED U.S. DRONE
The Pentagon said that a Russian warplane struck an unarmed U.S. MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, hitting its propeller and causing its operators to bring it down in international waters. Russia denied that its plane had hit the drone, which was developed by San Diego-based General Atomics.
It was the first known physical contact between the Russian and U.S. militaries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Here is what we know:
Where did it happen?
The Pentagon said Russian warplanes intercepted the drone over international waters. Ukrainian officials also said the drone was flying in international airspace and had crashed in waters southwest of Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the drone had been flying near the Russian occupied Crimean Peninsula and was headed to the Russian border with its identifying transponder off. Moscow said this was a violation of the instructions that Russia has issued for the airspace over its operations in Ukraine.
What are the U.S. and Russia saying?
A senior U.S. military official said the MQ-9 drone had taken off from its base in Romania early Tuesday for a regularly scheduled reconnaissance mission. The drone’s cameras can observe Crimea from international airspace, the official said, and such missions, which have taken place since before the war in Ukraine began, can last up to 10 hours.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the incident would not deter such flights, adding that “the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said the drone was conducting “unacceptable” activity in the vicinity of Russia’s borders. Antonov said U.S. drones in the area collect data that is passed to Ukraine to enable it to conduct strikes on Russian territory, apparently referring to attacks in Crimea.
Where is the drone now?
The drone went down in waters 75 miles southwest of Crimea, according to Ukrainian officials. The island was occupied by Russian forces at the start of the war before Ukraine drove them out.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said on state television Wednesday that Russian authorities were trying to retrieve the remnants of the drone. John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said the United States was “still assessing whether there can be any kind of recovery effort mounted.”
MQ-9 drones, a workhorse of the U.S. air fleet, have been lost over Afghanistan, Syria and other countries and their wreckage likely recovered by other armed groups. It was not clear what, if any, military intelligence the downed drone might yield to Russian forces were they to retrieve it.
What happens next?
The incident immediately raised friction between the Kremlin and Washington. The United States, with other allies, has supplied Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid to sustain its defense against Russia, but it has also tried to manage tensions with Russia and sought to avoid a direct military clash.
The Pentagon said it was working to declassify video of the incident. There were signs, however, that Washington was eager to play down the confrontation.
Russia, too, could see value in not allowing the incident to further stoke tensions. Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said Wednesday that relations between Moscow and Washington were “at their lowest point, in a very bad state.” But he said he had nothing to add about the drone incident.