surveillance drone in the black sea. pentagon video shows a russian fighter jet dumping fuel on the mq 9 reaper before clipping the propeller in international airspace and crashing in into the water. russia claims its fighters did not strike and the reaper went down after making a sharp maneuver. the actions by russian s pilots in international airspace were reckless and dangerous. we maintain direct lines of communications for reasons like this to minimize risk of escalation. but, again, we do not seek armed conflict with russia. the video proves intentional harassment but they leave open the possibility that rush may not have meant to destroy the drone. they are not working too hard to find out. we can t get between the ears of the russian pilot and know what the intent was. russia has been trying to make the war in ukraine broader war with the west. meaning if the u.s. is not looking under the hood for answers on the drone, it could
night that tornado warning as we come on part of this storm, moving east, the concern in the dallas fort worth area and several other states next, but we do begin tonight with that declassified video of two russian fighter jets and that american reaper drone over the black sea. the pentagon says this video from the drone clearly showing the moment one of the russian jets dumps fuel on the reaper. then making contact damaging its propeller. you can see one of the propeller blades bent after being hit the multimillion dollar drone crashing into the black sea. the u. s says the drone was in international airspace. russia s foreign ministry tonight now claiming the drone was flying in russian restricted airspace and tonight, sources telling abc news that russian ships are now in the area where the drone crashed. abc chief global affairs correspondent martha reddit leading us off again tonight. it is stunning video from the underbelly of the drone . you see a russian fighter jet at high spe
i mean, when we saw that flanker just yesterday or basically have a mid-air with an mq 9 with a reaper. bret: what did you make of that. i spent 15 years in the astronaut office. i used to fly with russian fighter pilots in the back seat of my airplane, the level of incompetence in the russian pilots that i flew with was shocking to me. bret: was that incompetent ten sense or aggressiveness. combination of the two aggressive. i think he was trying to join up and rendezvous with the mq 9 and get pictures of it and he crashed into it. it does not surprise me. what we see on the battlefield over and over again. is this level of incompetence all the ranks, including all the way up for the generals for us to back off at this critical moment to allow vladimir putin, to, by the way, is murdering women and children, committing war crimes, crimes against humanity to give him the space
there s been an interaction with the uk aircraft recently. there are other questions being raised about north sea interactions. a caged animal will reach out, in this case and i say flex its muscles, to show that i m not as weak as you think i am. emily? yeah. i think it s telling that russian officials on wednesday came right out and said we are going to induce recovery efforts immediately. then contrast with kirby who said, well, there may not be any kind of recovery effort given the depth. what a stark contrast in response. you know, i m not surprised, because remember after the debacle pullout that afghanistan was, where 13 service members lost their lives, we left behind $7 billion worth of equipment. why should we care about a $32 million reaper right now? i wouldn t be surprised at all. i m not. remember what the pentagon did at the time, what this administration did at the time about that equipment, not only confirming it, but then saying
it was struck by the russian jet. the $32 million drone was then downed in the black sea. the u.s. says two russian jets made 19 passes over the drone in international airspace before the collision. the russian government denies any aggressive action or impact occurred. the biden administration saying they declassified the video to prove russia is lying. given the reckless and dangerous behavior and to demonstrate publicly what type of actions the russians had taken, we felt that it was important to provide this imagery. reporter: the u.s. assesses the actions of the pilots were approved by top kremlin leaders according to three u.s. officials familiar with the intelligence, though the actual collision appears to be pilot error. russia insists the drone was in temporary russian airspace, though the pentagon today saying the reaper stayed about 50 miles or more from russian occupied crimea. tonight the american drone is on the bottom of the black sea. still, no u.s. efforts to recov