The US authorities have published a video showing the last seconds of an American drone's flight over the Black Sea. It completely refutes the Kremlin's claims that the MQ-9 Reaper drone allegedly fell into the sea on its own after the drone's operators lost control of it.
However, the footage confirms the American version of events, according to which one of the Russian planes deliberately cut the drone's propeller.
BREAKING: New video of U.S. drone incident with Russian jet.
– Sky News (@SkyNews) March 16, 2023
US Air Force has just released video said to show Russian jet intercepting a US drone and dumping fuel in it's path over the Black Sea.https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
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The Pentagon is going to hold a briefing after Russian fighter jets tried to fuel the American drone and it crashed into the Black Sea.
"This video just destroys the Russian lies about what they say happened or what they say didn't happen," said John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council.
"When you watch this video, it's quite clear that a Russian fighter jet shot down our drone," he said.
"We're not looking for conflict with Russia, we're not looking for escalation with Russia," said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder.
The video of the Russian plane trying to fuel the American drone was released "to publicly demonstrate what the Russians have done," he added.
Background. As reported, General Mark Milley said that the US military has taken measures to ensure that nothing of value among the wreckage of the MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drone could fall into Russian hands.