An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft in Indian Springs, Nevada. (Isaac Brekken/Photo by Isaac Brekken/Getty Ima)
President Biden has been briefed and the State Department is summoning Moscow’s envoy to Washington after a Russian fighter jet collided with a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea, forcing it to crash into international waters, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” Maj. Gen. James B. Hecker, a senior military official overseeing Air Force operations in Europe, said in a statement.
The State Department, in a briefing with reporters, said it was summoning Russia’s ambassador to convey strong objections over the incident. The Pentagon said it was working to declassify video showing the encounter.
Here’s the latest on the Ukraine war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Drone collision
- A Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. Air Force pilots to bring the drone down in international waters around 7 a.m. local time, the U.S. military said. Several times before the collision, that Su-27 and another one dumped fuel on and flew in front of the aircraft, maneuvers the U.S. military described as “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional.”
- The MQ-9 was conducting an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission when it encountered Russian aircraft in the Black Sea region, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday. Russian forces were not able to recover the drone after U.S. Air Force pilots deliberately crashed the aircraft, Ryder said.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the U.S. drone was flying with its transponders turned off “in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation.” In a statement, the ministry said that its air defense forces attempted to identify the aircraft, after which the MQ-9 “went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude.” No weapons were used in the confrontation, the statement said.
Other developments
- Some potential GOP presidential contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said Tuesday that opposing Russia in Ukraine is not a vital American interest. Tucker Carlson of Fox News published statements from former president Donald Trump, DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence, among other potential hopefuls. DeSantis dismissed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute.” Pence was in the minority in saying that he backed continued support for Ukraine, in line with top congressional Republicans.
- At least two people died in strikes in Ukraine’s east and northeast on Tuesday morning, according to officials. The situation in the east, including in Bakhmut, is “very tough,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.
- Russia agreed to extend the Black Sea grain deal that aims to prevent a global food crisis by letting Ukraine export vital food sources from its southern coast, “but only for 60 days,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said. That is half the length of the previous renewal, agreed to in November. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the extension as a “goodwill gesture” in a news conference Tuesday.
- Russia does not recognize the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the state-owned Tass news agency. He was responding to reports that the ICC was preparing to open cases against Russians after an investigation launched last year by its chief prosecutor into allegations of war crimes committed on Ukrainian territory.
- Washington Post photos from the scene: Aftermath of a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk on Tuesday.
Global impact
- The proposed $842 billion U.S. defense budget for the next fiscal year includes little funding for Ukraine, The Washington Post reported. But the Pentagon plans to make separate requests to Congress for additional funds to support Ukraine. The Biden administration is also seeking to spend $30.6 billion on munitions, up nearly 12 percent from this year’s budget. The increase reflects diminished U.S. stocks after a year of sending arms and supplies to Ukraine.”
- The Department of Homeland Security said it would consider one-year humanitarian-parole extensions for about 25,000 Ukrainians and their family members who crossed from Mexico into the United States between Feb. 24 and April 25 of 2022 and were allowed to stay for a year. Close to 300,000 Ukrainians and their family members entered the United States on a two-year basis through a humanitarian program created in late April.
From our correspondents
Ukraine short of skilled troops and munitions as losses, pessimism grow: After a year of war, Ukraine’s ranks of experienced, high-quality troops have thinned, Isabelle Khurshudyan, Paul Sonne and Karen DeYoung report. An influx of mostly inexperienced recruits to plug the losses have frustrated front-line commanders, who complain that some of their new fighters have never even thrown a grenade.
“The most valuable thing in war is combat experience,” said one battalion commander in the 46th Air Assault Brigade. “A soldier who has survived six months of combat and a soldier who came from a firing range are two different soldiers. It’s heaven and earth.”
“And there are only a few soldiers with combat experience,” he added. “Unfortunately, they are all already dead or wounded.”
