The Washington Post newspaper suggested that Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin ordered US Air Force pilots not to fly near the Crimean Peninsula. This conclusion was made by the publication based on secret Pentagon and US intelligence documents that entered the Internet.
One of the documents shows a map of the Black Sea, where the areas authorized for reconnaissance aircraft flights are indicated. Their borders start about 12 miles (19.3 km) from the coast, which is “in accordance with international law”. But at the same time, a line about 80.4 km from the peninsula marked SECDEF Directed Standoff is marked on the map. The publication claims that this line indicates that “Austin most likely ordered US pilots to keep planes away from the peninsula.”
Another document states that in the fall of 2022, a British Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft was nearly shot down by Russian Su-27 fighters over the Black Sea.
A Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane last year… the incident was bigger than originally thought and could directly involve the US and its NATO allies in the conflict in Ukraine
- noted in the publication.
An RC-135 Rivet Joint was on a “routine patrol” when a Su-27 fired a missile near the British aircraft. This incident, according to the publication, highlights “the balance that Western military officials are trying to maintain: providing assistance to the Ukrainian armed forces, collecting information on the course of hostilities, without being drawn into a direct conflict with Moscow.” .
The declassified documents claim that from September 29, 2022 to February 26, 2023, French and British aircraft carried out observation flights with crews over the Black Sea. At the same time, the US Air Force launched drones, including RQ – 4 Global Hawk, RQ – 170 Sentinel and MQ – 9 Reaper. Several flights of this type have been carried out each month.
The document is marked SECRET/NOFORN, which means that it cannot be transferred to people who are not US citizens.
Earlier, the British The Times wrote that Kiev would not see Crimea under any circumstances if the offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces failed. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s morale is high, Western support is dwindling.
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