Drone footage. The US military on Thursday released images of the interception over the Black Sea of its drone by the Russian army, while Russia continues to deny any contact that would have led to the crash. On the video sequence, declassified and broadcast on the site of the command of the American armed forces in Europe, the images show a Russian Sukhoi-27 passing twice just above the drone, after having approached it from behind.
Two approaches. On the first pass, no shock is visible between the two devices, nor anything that seems to justify the fall of the drone. During a second pass, without it being established whether it is the same fighter or a second one, the maneuver is similar, but the aircraft passes even closer to the drone. The image transmission is then interrupted for 60 seconds. When she resumes, “the propeller can be seen again and it can be seen that one of the blades is damaged”notes the US Air Force.
While acknowledging that two fighters had come to intercept the drone, Russia claimed not to be responsible for its fall. It is the first time since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 that a NATO country has admitted losing equipment operated by itself in this highly flammable region. Moscow has announced that it wants to fish out the drone to prove, according to it, the involvement of the United States in the operations in Ukraine.