The United States military’s European Command released footage of a Russian Su-27 fighter plane harassing an American Air Force MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday.
The video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the rear of the MQ-9 and dumping fuel over it as it passes, disrupting the MQ-9’s video transmission.
The video shows the Russian Su-27 making a second approach toward the drone, again dumping fuel on it.
Then the video shows a Russian Su-27 colliding with the drone and the drone’s camera feed being lost for about 60 seconds. Afterward, the camera feed returns, showing the drone’s propellers damaged by the impact.
The harassing flight happened on Tuesday, according to Eucom, around 7:03 a.m. CET.
The Pentagon maintains that the U.S. military brought down the drone in international waters.
Eucom blasted the behavior as “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional.”
“This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional,” an initial press release said.
The collision resulted in a “crash and a complete loss of the MQ-9,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.
“In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash,” he added.
Hecker said U.S. and Allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace.
The incident brought the U.S. and Russian militaries into the closest direct contact they have had amid a hot war in Ukraine, where the U.S. is backing Ukrainian forces with military assistance against Russian forces.
As Breitbart News previously reported, the Russians will attempt to recover the drone.
Russia’s director of its foreign intelligence agency Sergey Naryshkin said Russia will attempt to recover the drone from the deep international waters of the Black Sea, according to Russian state wire service TASS.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev also confirmed an attempt to recover the advanced drone would take place, remarking: “I don’t know if we can recover or not, but we will certainly have to do that, and we will deal with it… I am hoping that it will be a success.”
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