The Ukrainian Air Force has defended the use of American reconnaissance drones there after the military incident over the Black Sea. "The Black Sea is not an inland sea of Russia, as they have occupied the Sea of Azov and consider it theirs," Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said on television in Kiev on Wednesday night. Neighbors of the Black Sea are also NATO members, including Turkey and Romania, which is why the American drones act there on a legal basis. The Black Sea borders both Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow's ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, had criticized after the incident that the crashed US drone was thousands of kilometers away from home near the Russian border in use. It was a "provocation". The drone collects data for the Ukrainian armed forces in order to carry out strikes against Russia. This is an "inadmissible activity," Antonov said.

The United States had invoked international law that allows operations over neutral waters. Instead of the crashed one, a new American drone is already in use, Ihnat said in Kiev. The incident occurred on Tuesday southeast of Ukraine's snake island in the Black Sea. The United States had been monitoring and reconnaissance there long before the large-scale invasion began on February 24 last year.

According to the American military, an unmanned American military drone had collided with a Russian fighter jet in international airspace over the Black Sea. American forces would have had to bring down the drone after the collision.

Moscow speaks of evasive maneuvers

Russia denies that there was any physical contact. The drone had collided with the water surface after a sharp evasive maneuver. She was neither shot at nor attacked in any other way, according to a statement distributed by the state agency Tass. Air Force planes had ascended to identify an unknown intruder over the Black Sea. In a sharp evasive maneuver, the drone had rapidly lost altitude and crashed, was the representation from Moscow. "The Russian warplanes did not use on-board weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their home airport."

The American government, on the other hand, warned Moscow against an escalation. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected Moscow's account. They are considering publishing footage of the drone's encounter with two Russian warplanes to provide reconnaissance. Kirby warned that inappropriate actions by Russian pilots could lead to "miscalculations" between the armed forces of the two countries. Referring to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, he said: "We do not want this war to escalate beyond what it has already done to the Ukrainian people." The US State Department summoned the Russian ambassador.

What exactly happened

The American military said in detail about the course of the incident that two Russian warplanes had operated an interception maneuver with the American MQ-9 drone, which had flown in international airspace over the Black Sea. One of the fighter planes hit the propeller of the American drone and basically flew into the drone. This was then no longer maneuverable, American forces would have had to take it out of the sky and crash into the sea. As a result of the collision, the drone was lost. To a possible recovery of the aircraft, the Pentagon did not initially comment. Kirby said only that the United States had taken precautions so that the drone did not fall into foreign hands.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the incident probably also caused damage to the Russian warplane. The two Russian planes had been in the vicinity of the drone for about 30 to 40 minutes before the collision occurred. Before the collision, the Russian planes dumped fuel over the American drone and flew in front of it several times – in an irresponsible, environmentally harmful and unprofessional manner.

The MQ-9 drone is primarily used for reconnaissance, but can also perform precision attacks. It is controlled remotely. The Pentagon declined to specify what exactly the drone's mission was in the case and whether or not it was armed.

Interception manoeuvres are not necessarily aimed at pushing an aircraft away or forcing it to land, but are often used to determine, for example by visual contact, whether a suspicious aircraft poses a danger. Kirby emphasized that such interceptions are not uncommon. However, this case stands out due to the uncertain and unprofessional approach of the Russian side.

The American military criticized the incident as part of a series of dangerous actions by Russian pilots against U.S. and allied aircraft in international airspace, including over the Black Sea. These "aggressive actions" by the Russians are dangerous and could lead to "unintended escalations."