Black Sea Drone Incident: Pentagon releases de-classified video

In a rare move, the Pentagon yesterday released a de-classified video showing Russia’s intercept of a US military surveillance drone downed over the Black Sea two days ago.

It was the first direct US-Russian incident since the Ukraine war began, worsening already tense relations between Washington and Moscow.

In the video, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet comes very close to the US MQ-9 drone and dumps fuel near it, in what US officials say was an apparent effort to damage the American aircraft as it flew over the Black Sea.

It also shows the loss of the video feed after another close Russian maneuver, which the Pentagon says resulted from the Russian jet’s collision with the drone. It ends with images of the drone’s damaged propeller, which the Pentagon says resulted from the collision, making the aircraft inoperable.

The video, which is about 40 seconds long, has been edited by the US military for length but shows events in a sequential order, the Pentagon said.

Russia has denied US accusations that its jets acted recklessly in the incident on Tuesday over the Black Sea, and instead has blamed “sharp maneuvering” by the drone for the crash, claiming its jet did not make contact.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russian ships had been seen near the area where the drone had crashed, though they did not appear to have recovered any parts of the drone yet. It was not clear if they were still in the area.

Washington has said that any recovery efforts relating to the drone would be difficult because of the depth of water in the region. It said it has taken measures to ensure that no sensitive information can be gleaned from the remains of the drone.

The release of the video followed separate calls on Wednesday between the top US general, Mark Milley, and his Russian counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, as well as between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.

In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, Milley said it was clear that the intercept and harassment of the drone by Russian jets was intentional, but it was unclear whether the Russian pilots meant to slam their aircraft into the drone — a move that could also put the Russian aircraft at risk.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told his US counterpart that US drone flights near Crimea’s coast “were provocative in nature” and could lead to “an escalation … in the Black Sea zone,” a ministry statement said.

“The Americans keep saying they’re not taking part in military operations. This is the latest confirmation that they are directly participating in these activities – in the war,” Kremlin Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.

Russia, in a statement said, has “no interest” in escalation “but will in future react in due proportion” and the two countries should “act with a maximum of responsibility”, including by having military lines of communication in a crisis.

In its daily intelligence update on the Ukraine war, Britain’s defence ministry said Russian attempts to capture the town of Vuhledar, about 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Bakhmut, had “almost certainly slowed” after repeated, very costly failed attacks over the last three months.

President Vladimir Putin, meeting members of Russia’s business elite yesterday for the first time since the invasion, urged them to invest in their country to help it weather what he called the West’s “sanctions war”.