US officials told Russia’s ambassador to the United States that Moscow should exercise great caution when flying in international airspace.
This was announced by National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby on Wednesday after a US military drone was downed and intercepted by Russian fighters in the Black Sea.
The State Department summoned Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on Tuesday to express U.S. concern over the incident, the first since the start of the war in Ukraine more than a year ago. ‘a year.
“We advised the Russian Ambassador that (Russian pilots) should be very careful when flying in international airspace near US facilities, which, again, are perfectly legal flying missions in the serving our national security interests,” Kirby told CNN. “It’s (Russia) that should be more careful.”
Kirby also said the MQ-9 reconnaissance drone has not been found and may never be, given the depth of the Black Sea where it crashed.
“We are still assessing whether efforts can be made to recover him. They probably won’t,” he said.
Recall that on Tuesday, the Pentagon said that one of the Russian Su-27 planes hit the propeller of the drone, which led to its failure and fall.
Meanwhile, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, expressed concern over the incident on Twitter.
“The incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, caused by Russia in the Black Sea, is a signal from Putin that he is ready to expand the conflict zone with the participation of other parties,” he said. he writes.
Russia’s tactic, he said, is to move forward ‘constantly raising the stakes’ in hopes of reversing Russia’s ‘strategic defeat conditions’ in its war in Ukraine. .
