NEAR KREMINNA, UKRAINE: A Russian Su-27 fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. military Reaper surveillance drone on Tuesday, causing it to crash into the Black Sea in an incident condemned as “reckless’ by the U.S. military.
White House spokesman John Kirby said that although there have been other such intercepts, this one was noteworthy because it was “unsafe and unprofessional”. U.S. President Joe Biden had been briefed about the incident, Kirby added.
In Brussels, NATO’s senior military commander, General Christopher Cavoli, informed allies about the incident, an alliance official said.
It occurred as Russian troops pushed forward in waves along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, while 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.
