A Russian fighter jet has struck the propeller of a US drone over the Black Sea, causing US forces to bring it down in international waters, the US military said. The US European Command said in a statement that two Russian Su-27 fighter jets "conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept" of a US MQ-9 drone that was operating within international airspace over the Black Sea.
It said one of the Russian fighters "struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters", adding that 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". "This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional," it added.
The incident, the date of which has not yet been confirmed, comes amid soaring Russian-US tensions over Moscow's war in Ukraine.
