Black Sea Collision: US Drone and Russian Jet Clash in Mid-Air

Thus far, this is the information we have:

• The US military has condemned the actions of the Russian jet as ‘reckless’. According to a statement released by the US military, ‘Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional manner.’
• Russia has denied any involvement in the crash of the MQ-9 drone, which the US claims was carrying out a routine surveillance mission. The Russian Defence Ministry stated, ‘As a result of a sharp manoeuvre… the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle entered an uncontrolled flight with loss of altitude and collided with the surface of the water.’
• Karen Donfried, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, summoned Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov for a meeting at the US State Department. During the meeting, Antonov said, ‘As for us, we do not want any confrontation between the United States and Russia’.
• John Krby, the White House National Security spokesperson, made a statement refuting Russia’s denial of involvement in the drone crash. Kirby also confirmed that the US is currently working on recovering the downed drone. He said, ‘Without getting into too much detail, what I can say is that we’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone—that particular aircraft.’
• Ned Price, the spokesperson of the US State Department, has said, ‘We are engaging directly with the Russians, again at senior levels, to convey our strong objections to this unsafe, unprofessional intercept, which caused the downing of the unmanned US aircraft.’