tensions in the skies, a russian fighter jet forcing a u.s. drone over the black sea. the u.s. air force calling the encounter reckless and unprofessional. it s at a potentially dangerous escalation at a crucial time in russia s war against ukraine. joining me now from the magic wall is cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel cedric leighton. i m so glad you re here to help us unpack. what happened in this moment? now, colonel, officials are saying that this drone was over international waters on the black sea when a russian jet dumped fuel on them and bumped into the drone? i mean, it sounds incredibly dangerous. yeah, it really is, laura. and it s good to be with you tonight. and where this happened is probably about in this area right here. so, all of this is international waters that you see right here, just off the crimean coast. and of course, the southern coast of ukraine. so, this area is one in which the united states of course has a lot of interest in tr
russian fighters who damaged it and was then forced down. somebody could ve gotten hurt. nobody wants to see that happen. and it could lead to miscalculations between two militaries that are operating not obviously in ukraine together, but in proximity in the region. we don t want to see this war escalate beyond what it is already done to the ukrainian people. so this is clearly, it was an appropriate, unsafe, unprofessional conduct by the russian. pilots russians ambassador to washington was summoned to the state department. we ll have more on that shortly. also get a perspective from retired three star general mark hertling. but the latest on the incident rob leaning joins us from the panic. is it clear what happened? this all plays out early tuesday morning over international borders over the black sea, when u.s. air force reaper drone is doing what it has done countless times before. not only the during the war, but before the war, that is surveilling the black sea
nuclear launch sites. will the united states shoot it down? plus, the u.s. providing longer-range missiles to ukraine, double the range of what it currently has. this as zelenskyy warned that putin is out for revenge. and the money questions tonight mounting for congressman george santos, questions now about 37 expenses that were exactly in the amounts of $199.99, one penny shy of having to provide a receipt. let s go outfront. and good evening. i m erin burnett. outfront tonight, will america shoot? china s spy balloon right now making its way east now over st. louis. the balloon flying over and lingering over some of america s most sensitive locations, near nuclear sites. cnn has obtained this exclusive video of the balloon over columbia, missouri. first of all, you see below it it s almost hinden burg style. you can see what appear to be solar panels underneath the balloon. just to be clear what you re looking at here is in columbia, missouri, which happens to be
down. of course, the question tonight is, where is that exactly and when will it come down? by the way, how will it come down? the a spy balloon. the pentagon refusing to say whether they are considering shooting it down what looks like a chinese spy balloon floating high above some sensitive sites in this country. but officials telling cnn they haven t ruled it out either. meanwhile, this balloon, which is the size, by the way, of three school buses, is just meandering along thousands of feet up in the sky. it was spotted twice on wednesday over montana and twice over missouri today, including in colombia, missouri, this very often-afternoon where this exclusive footage was shot. it s flying about 60,000 feet up, 18,000 feet higher than a commercial airplane does. and now the pentagon says there is another chinese spy balloon that is currently somewhere over latin america. we will talk about what the heck is going on in the skies tonight. here to help us figure all this out,
balloon, the pentagon refusing to say whether they re considering shooting down what sure looks like a chinese fly balloon, officials telling cnn they haven t ruled it out either, meanwhile the balloon the size, by the way of three school buss is meandering along thousands of feet up in the sky. it was spotted twice on wednesday over montana and twice missouri today including in columbia missouri this very afternoon, where this exclusive footage was shot. now, the flying about 60,000 feet up 18,000 feet higher than a commercial airplane and the pentagon said there s another chinese spy balloon currently somewhere over latin america. we ll talk about what the heck is going on in the skies tonight here to help us figure this out. cnn tom foreman and animal coldnal layton, let me begin with you, tom at the magic wall, where has this balloon been and where is it going. if we trust what the military thinks about it where it s been was china, flying coming in over canada and drif