US condemns downing of military drone over Black Sea by Russian fighter
jet
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[March 15, 2023]
By Mike Collett-White
NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine (Reuters) - The United States condemned the
downing of a U.S. spy drone by a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea
on Tuesday, in an incident that underscored how the Ukraine war has
increased the risk of direct confrontation between Moscow and
Washington.
Two Russian Su-27 jets carried out what the U.S. military described as a
reckless intercept of the MQ-9 "Reaper" drone in international airspace
before one of them collided with it at 7:03 a.m. (0603 GMT), causing the
drone to crash into the sea.
Several times before the collision, the Russian fighter jets dumped fuel
on the MQ-9, possibly trying to blind or damage it, and flew in front of
the unmanned drone in unsafe manoeuvres, the U.S. military said.
Russia's defence ministry denied that its aircraft had come into contact
with the drone, which it said had crashed after "sharp manoeuvring". It
said the drone had been detected near the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow
annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
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NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Army General Christopher
Cavoli, briefed NATO allies about the incident.
The Pentagon said the incident likely caused damage to the Russian
aircraft, though Russia's defence ministry said its jet fighters had
"returned safely to their home airfield".
It was the first such episode since Russia's invasion of Ukraine just
over a year ago. The Black Sea is bordered by Russia and Ukraine, among
other countries.
"We have been flying over that airspace consistently now for a year ...
and we're going to continue to do that," said White House National
Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
The U.S. State Department later said it had summoned the Russian
ambassador to protest the downing of the drone.
The incident occurred as Russian troops pushed forward in waves along
the frontline in eastern Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed
his view that Russia's very existence as a state was at stake in the
war.
In the eastern Donbas region, Russia and Ukraine are locked in the
bloodiest infantry battle in Europe since World War Two after Moscow
launched a winter offensive.
RUSSIA'S SURVIVAL
Putin has framed Moscow's year-long "special military operation" as a
defensive pushback against what he sees as a hostile West bent on
expanding into territories historically ruled by Russia.
"So for us this is not a geopolitical task, but a task of the survival
of Russian statehood, creating conditions for the future development of
the country and our children," Putin said during a visit to an aviation
factory in Buryatia, some 4,400 km (2,750 miles) east of Moscow.
Putin accuses the West of using Ukraine as a tool to inflict "strategic
defeat" on Russia. Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow is waging an
unprovoked war of conquest that has destroyed Ukrainian cities, killed
thousands of people and forced millions more to flee their homes.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin said Kyiv must accept "new realities" -
its shorthand for Russia's claim to have annexed four regions, or nearly
a fifth of Ukraine's territory.
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A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits
in a hanger at Amari Air Base, Estonia, July 1, 2020. REUTERS/Janis
Laizans/File Photo
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"We have to achieve our goals. Right now this is only possible by
military means due to the current position of the Kyiv regime,"
Russian state news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
as saying.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine's
"future is being decided" in battles in the east, including Bakhmut,
where Ukrainian commanders say they are killing enough Russian
attackers to justify staying and fighting for a wrecked city that
has nearly been surrounded.
"It is very tough in the east - very painful," Zelenskiy said. "We
have to destroy the enemy's military power. And we shall destroy
it."
Zelenskiy and his military chiefs agreed on Tuesday to keep
defending Bakhmut despite concerns among some military analysts that
the losses Ukraine is suffering could undermine its ability to mount
a planned counter-offensive when the weather improves.
"It is key to the stability of the defence of the entire front,"
said General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the Ukrainian
Armed Forces, praising his soldiers' fortitude.
'PUSHING HARD'
Further north on the frontline near Kreminna, Oleksandr, 50,
commander of a unit in Ukraine's 110th battalion, said Russian
assaults were still relentless despite having claimed little ground
there.
"They are pushing hard. They are lobbing mortar bombs at us,"
Oleksandr told Reuters. He said Russian three-man fire teams
advanced, with another wave following to replace them when they were
killed.
"At night they always attack on foot and we sit, looking through our
thermal goggles and shooting them."
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Both sides reported more civilian casualties near the front.
Zelenskiy said six high-rise buildings were hit in the centre of
Kramatorsk by a Russian missile, killing at least one person and
wounding three. On the Russian-occupied side, in Volnovakha further
south, the body of a woman lay on a street next to a ruined shop. A
Russian military investigator told Reuters the area was hit by
Ukrainian shells.
Two civilians were also killed and one injured in Russian artillery
shelling of two villages in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine,
regional prosecutors said.
Off the battlefield, talks continued on Tuesday to extend a deal to
allow grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports that is due to
expire this week after Kyiv rejected a Russian push for a reduced
60-day renewal.
The original deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to
prevent global famine by securing wartime exports from Ukraine and
Russia, both among the world's top food suppliers.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Peter Graff and Gareth
Jones; Editing by Nick Macfie, Angus MacSwan and Cynthia Osterman)
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