The US is taking steps to recover its MQ-9 Reaper drone that sank on March 14 in the Black Sea. As White House strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN, the US authorities do not want him to fall into anyone's hands. What exactly is being done for this, Kirby did not specify.
US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the MQ-9 Reaper incident. The United States has not yet discussed the incident directly with the Russian authorities.
According to the Pentagon, which is reported by AP, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets dropped fuel on an American drone that was on a standard surveillance mission over the Black Sea and was in international airspace. The planes flew past the MQ-9 Reaper several times in 30-40 minutes, after which one of them hit the drone propeller, so that the American forces had to sink the device.
The Russian Defense Ministry claims that Russian fighters were not involved in the sinking of the MQ-9 Reaper. The Su-27 fighters were lifted into the air because the drone "violated the boundaries of the temporary regime for the use of airspace."
On the evening of March 14, the US European Command reported that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet crashed into a propeller of an American drone over the Black Sea and almost fell.