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Dramatic new video was released Thursday showing a Russian fighter jet downing an American surveillance drone over the Black Sea … and it destroys Russia’s claim they didn’t do it.
Check out the footage, which was declassified by U.S. European Command, showing the back propeller of the MQ-9 Reaper drone encountering the fast-approaching Russian Sukhoi SU-27 fighter jet in international airspace. As it got ever so close, the Russian jet showered the drone with fuel.
The Russian plane circled back for another pass and dumped even more gasoline on the drone. Then the Russian fighter tried one last fly by, but collided with the drone, damaging the propeller. As a result, the U.S. was forced to bring down the drone in the Black Sea.
For their part, Russian officials reportedly denied the crash even took place. Guess they haven’t seen the video of the 30-to-40 minute mid-air battle.
But, a senior Biden administration official told CNN the video “absolutely confirms” the incident occurred, but the Russian pilots’ motives remained unclear.
John Kirby, a rep for the National Security Council, said the drone had not been retrieved yet and it may never be recovered.
As of now, The Kremlin has not made a decision as to whether they would make an attempt to retrieve the drone wreckage.