the tiny school pulling off a stunner in its first tournament appearance in 40 years announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, and welcome, everyone the u.s. tonight offering compelling evidence that russian fighter jets were the aggressors in a confrontation with an american air force drone over the black sea this week. newly declassified pentagon video from the drone s camera captured a russian warplane spraying jet fuel directly in the path of the pilotless drone. one of several close passes by russian fighters according to the pentagon, one of which resulted in a collision. part of the american aircraft s propeller sheared off, forcing the drone to crash. while american officials allow the russian pilot may have accidentally bumped the drone, they say there s no question where the orders to harass the u.s. plane came from courtney kube has more for us now from the pentagon. reporter: the dramatic new video showing the midair showdown all c
janet yellen today appearing before congress. what she said about the safety of american banks. the u.s. threatening to ban tiktok over national security fears. how the popular app s owner is responding. the cross-country storm, tornado warnings and hail in texas. snow in the midwest, and caught on camera, the daring flood rescue in los angeles. nbc news investigates, why is this school still open near a plant the epa says emits a toxic chemical? families demanding answers. the first big upset in march madness. the tiny school pulling off a stunner in its first tournament appearance in 40 years. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening, and welcome, everyone. the u.s. tonight offering compelling evidence that russian fighter jets were the aggressors in a confrontation with an american air force drone over the black sea this week. newly declassified pentagon video from the drone s camera captured a russian warplane spraying jet fuel dire
a u.s. drone is down after colliding with a russian jet. the lead starts right now. russian fighter jets intercept an unmanned u.s. drone, forcing it down over the black sea. how will the u.s. respond? plus, 2024 is clearly on. donald trump makes his first election stop in iowa, in the cycle. he takes aim at his first florida competitive, florida governor ron desantis is not officially in the race yet. but first, protecting your money, multiple investigations reportedly launched into the collapse of silicon valley bank, or cbb, as panicked tweets are partly to blame for banks losing $40 million in a single day. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. any moment, president biden is expected to speak in monterey park, california, about efforts to reduce gun violence. he ll also meet with families and victims from one of this year s many, many mass shootings. we ll bring you the president s remarks as soon as they begin. until then, we turn to money lead. markets clo
invasion of ukraine. a spokesman for the u.s. air force called the actions reckless, unsound and unprofessional. let s bring in natasha bertrand and melissa bell live in kyiv, ukraine. melissa, what are we hearing today from ukrainian and russian officials ans about this inciden the black sea? reporter: what we are getting from the russian ministry of defense is a direct contradiction to what the united states has said so far. what the russians are saying is that there was no contact at all, and that drone went down into the black sea as a result of sharp maneuvering, moscow accusing that drone of flying without transponders that allow a drone to be tracked, a violation of the temporary measures that were put in place for the special military operation in that area. the euphemism that russia uses for its invasion of ukraine. what seems to have happened is that drone was destected off th coast of the crimean peninsula. russian jets scrambled to get up there, and we have seen
sea this week. newly declassified pentagon video from the drone s camera captured a russian warplane spraying jet fuel directly in the path of the pilotless drone. one of several close passes by russian fighters according to the pentagon, one of which resulted in a collision. part of the american aircraft s propeller sheared off forcing the drone to crash while american officials allow the russian pilot may have accidentally bumped the drone, they say there s no question where the orders to harass the plane came from. courtney kube has more for us now from the pentagon. reporter: the dramatic new video showing the midair showdown all captured by a camera on the unmanned american reaper drone. you can see the russian fighter jet approaching the drone from behind, then spraying jet fuel on it. there is no collision. the drone s propeller intact. then another approach by the russian jet and more jet fuel. the moment of impact is not shown on the video, but later the drone s propeller vi