overrespond. i hope it doesn t happen again former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul with his assessment of the russian confrontation of the u.s. drone over the black sea we ll have much more on the diplomatic implications of the incident just ahead. plus, some republican lawmakers are pushing back on comments from ron desantis about russia s invasion of ukraine with comparisons to neville chamberlain. things got tense between ari m melber and donald trump s lawyer an interview that s incredible revealing in many ways a little later on morning joe. it s wednesday, march 15th we have the host of way too early, jonathan lemire, david i ignatius mark mckinnon. first, we start with the new information that we re learning about a collision that occurred yesterday between a russian fighter jet and an unmanned u.s. surveillance drone over the black sea. the united states european command reports around 7:00 local time yesterday two russian jets began to track the drone
coons, who is standing by on capitol hill it s march 15th. welcome back we are starting with the growing tensions between the u.s. and russia this morning after the pentagon said a russian fighter jet downed an american drone it happened over the black sea south of ukraine keir simmons reports a russian fighter jet and u.s. drone colliding in midair is the kind of contact nato has been desperate to avoid since the war in ukraine began the russian plane hit the drone propeller bringing it down according to the u.s./european command. it demonstrates a lack of confidence putin denied its plane hit
moskva, carol lee. great to see you. how did this come to pass? i guess the question for you on the reporting side of it is, why do you suspect that american officials are so interested in getting the word out publicly that they are helping directly in this war effort against russia and perhaps providing vladimir putin with some of the propaganda he craves? sure, willie. well, the way it came about is, as you ll recall, there was a lot of speculation when this ship sank on april 14th, about whether ukraine had help in sinking that ship. what we ve learned from u.s. officials is that they did. that the u.s. helped them identify and locate this ship. after the ukrainians had asked the u.s. about a ship that was sailing in the black sea south of odesa, and the u.s. responded and said that it was the moskva and here s where it was located,
putin be believed? and what the kremlin is already saying tonight about any guarantees. abc s terry moran in ukraine. reporter: tonight, tentative hopes for a diplomatic way out of this crisis. french president emmanuel macron taking the lead, arriving in kyiv today to meet with ukrainian president zelensky, one day after his marathon talks with vladimir putin. and macron saying putin gave him a personal guarantee. he told me he won t be initiating an escalation. i think that s important, macron said. the kremlin denies putin made any such commitment. russia continues to flow forces into the region. six large warships entering the black sea south of ukraine. and the u.s. continues to reenforce nato. troops from the 82nd airborne division arriving in poland just 60 miles from ukraine s border. ukrainians are still preparing for war. so, these all represent artillery attacks? yes. reporter: the head of ukraine s national security
troops, but he was cryptic about what lies ahead. how will russia act next? according to plan, putin declared, adding he did not consider the crisis over, and that his security demanding, to bar ukraine permanently from joining nato and to roll back the alliance to 1997 positions, had not been met by the west. but putin did say again he was ready to continue on the negotiating track. new satellite images over the past 48 hours show increased russian military activity among the 150,000 troops it has around ukraine. from military exercises in belarus to the north, to the black sea south. tonight, more u.s. troops are on their way to bolster nato allies. several hundred soldiers from the 101st airborne division in fort campbell, kentucky are deploying to europe, part of a deployment of 3000 troops that began last week. terry moran with us tonight.