American drone did not pose threat to Russia, - Air Force
One US reconnaissance drone did not pose a threat to Russia in international airspace. Reconnaissance devices, which are in the air over the Black Sea, monitor the demarcation line.
This was stated by the spokesman of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat on Radio Liberty, Censor.NET reports.
"He monitored the air situation. The Black Sea is not the internal sea of Russia, like the Sea of Azov, as they think there. Access to (the Black Sea. - Ed.) NATO countries, Turkey, and international airspace can be done, What do you want? They (the Russians. - Ed.) fly their bombers to the shores of Great Britain? Are fighter jets raised to intercept? There is a scout here, he scouts. It does what it was created to do. What is the threat from such a single UAV? There is nothing to comment here," the spokesman said.
According to Ihnat, before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, unmanned aerial vehicles monitored the demarcation line from the ORDLO (separate areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which have been occupied since 2014 by Russian forces).
Also remind, on March 14, the US Air Force announced that the Russian Su-27 aircraft had been caught by the propeller of the American MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea, as a result of which American forces had to shoot down the MQ-9 in international waters.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the American drone fell into the Black Sea due to its sharp maneuver, and the Russian fighter jets did not contact it.
At the same time, the Pentagon claims that the Russian fighter jet suffered some damage during the collision with the drones. And the White House says that the US has taken measures to prevent the downed MQ-9 Reaper drone from falling into the wrong hands.
According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the drone incident will not lead to a direct conflict between Russia and the United States.
