Destruction of an American drone over the Black Sea: Ukraine accuses Russia of wanting to extend the conflict
Sylvie Claire / March 15, 2023
Ukraine accused Russia on Wednesday of seeking to "spread" the war in Ukraine to other parties, after an incident between Russian fighters and a US drone in the Black Sea.
The incident with the U.S. drone MQ-9 Reaper caused by Russia in the Black Sea is a signal from (Vladimir) Putin that he is ready to expand the area of conflict and involve other parties," said on Twitter the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov.
Russia uses the "go-anywhere tactic" of "always raising the stakes," he further blasted.
The United States accused the Russian air force on Tuesday of having "intercepted and hit" an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea and caused it to fall.
Moscow denied these accusations while acknowledging that two of its fighter jets had intercepted a U.S. drone that had been detected "in the area of the Crimean Peninsula," the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia, and was advancing "in the direction" of the Russian borders.
Russian fighters did not use their weapons," and did not come into contact with the drone that flew "with transponders off" and had violated "the area of the provisional regime of use of airspace established to conduct the special military operation," defended the Russian military, which uses this term for its invasion of Ukraine launched over a year ago.