place and claimed the aircraft s presence was a provocation. here s our north america correspondent, peter bowes. an american mq-9 an american mq 9 drone, and two russian fighterjets. their russian fighter jets. their encounter, russian fighterjets. their encounter, according to the pentagon, lasted up to 40 minutes in international airspace. they were over the black sea, where tensions have risen, eversince black sea, where tensions have risen, ever since russia s annexation of crimea in 2014, and where us surveillance aircraft have been flying regularly since the start of the war last year. the pentagon says one of the russian jets moved in front of the drone and eventually forced the unmanned aerial vehicle, eventually forced the unmanned aerialvehicle, or eventually forced the unmanned aerial vehicle, or uav, to crash into the sea. it was a complete loss of the aircraft. we are continuing to assess exactly what happened, but i think, based on the actions of the russian pilots, it
this is bbc news. welcome, if you re watching here in the uk, or around the globe. i m lisa marie misztak. our top stories america says a russian fighterjet has forced one of its surveillance drones to crash into the black sea, using tactics that have been condemned by officials. several times before the collision, the su 27 has dumped fuel on and flew in front of the mq-9 in a reckless and unprofessional manner. tougher background checks announced on gun buying in america, as president biden tries to stop mass shootings. tropical storm freddie has killed more than 200 people in malawi and mozambique, after striking for a second time. clashes in pakistan, as imran khan s supporters try to stop police arresting him outside his home, a move the former pm says
conflict with russia and i believe that at this point we should investigate this incident and move on from there. but we will continue to exercise our rights in international airspace let s go to dan lamoth, washington post. gentlemen, thank you for your time today secretary austin, likely presidential candidates have declared that ukraine should not be an american priority. given that the biden administration has promised to support ukraine for as long as it takes, are you concerned that election rhetoric could undermine support for ukraine in congress or with the american people and chairman milley, the mq-9 came down in the black sea where the united states has not had any military vessels for more than a year. is it fair to say the u.s. will not recover this mq-9 and do you have any concerns about what
pilots, it was clear it was unsafe, unprofessional and i think the actions speak for themselves. what we saw, again, were fighter aircraft dumping fuel in front of this uav and then getting so close to the aircraft that it actually damaged the propeller on the mq-9. we assess that it likely caused some damage to the russian aircraft as well. russia s ambassador to the us called the drone s presence a provocation. he said the aircraft s transponder, which is used to avoid mid air collisions, was switched off and it had violated what russia calls the temporary airspace regime, established since it attacked ukraine. the us says the russian pilots were reckless. but was it deliberate or a careless mistake that caused the drone to crash into the sea? an error that risks escalating tensions between washington and moscow.
the us and russia are giving conflicting accounts about how an american surveillance drone plunged into the black sea. washington says two russian jets tried to intercept the drone, before striking a propeller. russia s ambassador to the us has denied any collision took place and claimed the aircraft s presence was a provocation. here s our north america correspondent, peter bowes. an american mq 9 drone and two russian fighterjets. their encounter, according to the pentagon, lasted up to a0 minutes in international airspace. they were over the black sea, where tensions have risen ever since russia s annexation of crimea in 2014. and where us surveillance airdraft have been flying regularly since the start of the war last year. the pentagon says one of the russian jets moved in front of the drone and eventually forced the unmanned aerial vehicle, or uav, to crash into the sea. it was a complete loss of the aircraft. we are continuing to assess exactly what happened but i think, based o