minister. they talked about this contact between the mq-9 reaper drone and two russian su-27 fighter jets in international airspace over the black sea. the defense secretary stressed this is a part of a pattern of reckless and dangerous behavior on the part of russian pilots. he s emphasized the fact that the u.s. will not back down with their use of reconnaissance drones. i ll just reiterate that the united states will fly and operate wherever international law allows. now, the u.s. has said that the russian fighters dive bombed this reconnaissance drone for a period of a half an hour, dumped fuel on it and struck the propeller forcing the plane to ditch. russia said there was never any contact between the aircraft and
here is the russian military spokesman. i want to emphasize the russian fighters didn t use their weapons, didn t come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base. russia s secretary of the security council says they will scramble to gather up the wreckage of the u.s. reaper drone. that gives russia the advantage. the u.s. does not have any warships in the black sea. russia does. we just heard from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley, something remarkable saying the u.s. can rely on allies to get ships in the water here. also the fact that this drone crashed in 4,000 to 5,000 feet of water. the recovery will be difficult. anything that was of value from this drone was likely destroyed and is of no longer value. martha? martha: thanks, mike. reporting live from kyiv. let s bring in jack keane, former vice chief of staff for
incident. as part of a pattern of aggressive, risky, and unsafe actions by russian pilots in international air space. i just got off the phone with my russian counterpart, minister shoigu. as i have said repeatedly, it is important that great powers be models of transparency and communication. the united states will continue to fly and operate wherever international law allows. in a news conference with the defense secretary joint chiefs chairman general mark milley said retrieving the wreckage will be very difficult and that it is now in 4,000 or 5,000 feet of water. the u.s. military said on tuesday a russian jet dumped fuel on an mq-9 reaper drone which officials say was doing routine operations in international air space. the russian jet then hit the propeller of the reaper forcing its remote pilots to bring it down in international waters.
yesterday. this afternoon, mark milley, the chairman of joint chiefs of staff said the drone, quote, is no longer of any use. and in the ukrainian capital, one ukrainian thinks the u.s. may have had more sinister implications behind that airborne altercation. reporter: russian president vladimir putin in east siberia, touring an aviation factory, taking to the virtual skies in a helicopter simulation. while over the black sea russian fighter jets in a dangerous encounter with a u.s. mq-9 reaper drone. and saying the russian aircraft dumped fuel on the drone and crushing it out of the sky. this episode is part of a pattern of aggressive risky and unsafe actions by russian pilots until international airspace. now, i just got off the phone