US releases footage of Russian jet ‘intercepting’ into American drone over Black Sea

Footage released by the US Air Force shot on 14 March 2023, shows two Russian Su-27 aircraft flying close to a US MQ-9 unmanned aircraft over the Black Sea. The US Air Force has said the Russian jets conducted “an unsafe and unprofessional intercept”, dumping fuel on the aircraft and striking its propeller, forcing Washington to bring down the MQ-9 Reaper drone in international waters. Moscow denied its aircraft had damaged the unmanned drone and said on Wednesday that it would try to retrieve the wreckage. It also warned that it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocations” as tensions.

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