March 15, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The United States erased sensitive software on the MQ-9 Reaper drone remotely before it crashed into the Black Sea to prevent Russia from collecting secret information, according to two US officials.

The steps to wipe the software were taken after the encounter between the drone and two Russian Su-27 fighter jets. The Russian jets dumped jet fuel in front of the US surveillance drone early Tuesday morning, after which one of the Russian jets collided with the drone, damaging its propellor and forcing the US to bring it down in the Black Sea.  

On Wednesday, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said Russia will try to retrieve wreckage of the drone. Patrushev was formerly the chief of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) – the successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB.

“I don’t know if we will be able to get it or not, but we need to do it... And we will definitely look into it,” Patrushev said on Russian state TV Rossiya 1. 

The US does not have any Navy ships in the Black Sea, according to a Navy official, which would make any attempted US recovery effort extremely difficult and time-consuming.

On Tuesday, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said the US has taken steps to protect the “equities” associated with the drone.

The mid-air encounter occurred approximately 45 miles southwest of the Crimean peninsula, one US official said. The drone landed approximately 70 miles southwest of Crimea after gliding away from the occupied territory, the official added. 

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that the apparent downing of a US drone over the Black Sea by a Russian fighter jet was “inevitable.” 

When asked whether he believed the incident might make the US more cautious in its approach to the conflict, Kuleba told the BBC he did not believe that this was the case. 

"The mood is not to escalate but nor is the mood to lean under the pressure — the physical or rhetorical pressure — of Russia,” he said.  

The Russian downing of a US drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday has prompted a diplomatic spat and a race to recover some highly classified technology.

The White House slammed Moscow’s actions as “unsafe, unprofessional and reckless” while Russia’s defense ministry denied its aircraft came into contact with the drone.

Russian and US aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but this is the first incident of its kind since the conflict began.

Here’s what you need to know.

What happened to the US drone?

The drone – a US-made MQ-9 Reaper – and two Russian Su-27 aircraft were flying over international waters over the Black Sea on Tuesday when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned aerial vehicle several times, a statement from US European Command said.

The aircraft then hit the drone propeller, prompting the drone’s remote operators to bring it down in international waters. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder added Tuesday that the Russian aircraft flew “in the vicinity” of the drone for 30 to 40 minutes before colliding just after 7 a.m. Central European Time.

The Russians have given a different version of events. A Russian fighter aircraft “did not use airborne weapons or come into contact” with the drone over the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

The incident marks the first known time Russian and US military aircraft have come into direct physical contact since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago and is likely to increase tensions between the two nations.

More pressingly, a race is underway to avoid the drone from falling into the wrong hands. As of Tuesday evening, neither country had recovered the drone, US officials said.

What is the MQ-9 Reaper drone?

The US Air Force primarily uses the Reaper for collecting intel, according to the service’s website, which touts the “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” abilities of the drone.

But when armed, the drone can also be used against “high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive” executive targets, given its weapons systems and its ability to surveil an area for a long period of time.

In other words, the Reaper is both capable of surveilling and striking an enemy. These dual uses have earned the Reaper a nickname in military circles: the “hunter-killer.”

Read more here.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urged Russia on Wednesday to “respect international airspace” after the US said its drone was downed over the Black Sea by a Russian fighter jet. 

“The key here is that all parties respect international air space and we urge the Russians to do so," he told reporters.   

Wallace, who is currently in Japan for a defense event, added that the US considered the act to be “very unprofessional.” 

The Russian Security Council Secretary and the former chief of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolai Patrushev said on Wednesday that Russia will try to get the wreckage of an American MQ-9 drone that fell into the Black Sea in order to study it. 

“I don’t know if we will be able to get it or not, but we need to do it ... And we will definitely look into it,” said Patrushev said on Russian state TV Rossiya 1. 

Patrushev said Russia already counters such actions. 

“We must defend our independence and sovereignty," he said. 

Some more context: The US has not recovered the drone that was forced down by a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea Tuesday, according to National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby. He warned that he was "not sure we are going to be able to recover it."

"We did the best we could to minimize any intelligence value that might come from somebody else getting their hands on that drone," he added.

The Kremlin said relations between Russia and the US are at their “lowest point” and in a “deplorable state,” following the drone's downing.

Moscow pushed back, denying its fighter jets came "into contact" with the US drone.

The American MQ-9 Reaper drone that was downed by a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea on Tuesday has yet to be recovered, John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications said today on CNN This Morning. 

"I'm not sure that we're going to be able to recover it," Kirby told CNN's Don Lemon. "Where it fell into the Black Sea, very, very deep water. We're still assessing whether there can be any recovery effort mounted. There may not be."

Kirby added that the US has taken efforts to "minimize any intelligence value" getting into the wrong hands.

Retired US Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton explains the capabilities of the MQ-9 Reaper drone and explains how the US can prevent Russia from gathering intel from the drone.

Watch here.

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Video: How US can prevent Russia from gathering intel from MQ-9 Reaper drone | CNN Politics

Russian military-linked hackers used a critical flaw in Microsoft email software to target — and in some cases infiltrate — the networks of European military, energy and transportation organizations in an apparent spying campaign that went undetected for months as the war raged in Ukraine, Microsoft told its customers in a report obtained by CNN. 

The news shows how, despite the heightened defensive posture of Western governments and tech firms during the war, Russian hacking can slip under the radar and come to light, if ever, months after the fact.  

As Russian military advances in Ukraine have faltered, the Kremlin’s hacking teams have scoured the networks of Western logistics and transport firms supporting Ukraine’s defenses for intelligence that might translate to a battlefield or geopolitical advantage, according to cybersecurity experts and US officials.

A tip from Ukrainian officials led Microsoft to investigate the cyber activity and discover that the Russian hackers had been exploiting the previously unknown software flaw between April and December of last year, according to Microsoft. 

Microsoft publicly disclosed the vulnerability on Tuesday, urging customers to update their software. Privately, Microsoft told customers that “fewer than 15” organizations had been targeted or breached by the Russian operatives. 

Bleeping Computer, a tech news outlet, first reported on the Microsoft advisory to customers. 

Continue reading here.

The US has not recovered the drone that was forced down by a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea Tuesday, according to National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby. He warned that he was "not sure we are going to be able to recover it."

"We did the best we could to minimize any intelligence value that might come from somebody else getting their hands on that drone," he added.

Here are the latest developments across the region today:

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, described the incident that saw a US Air Force drone crash into the Black Sea — allegedly after being hit by a Russian fighter jet — as a “signal” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “readiness to expand the conflict zone with the involvement of other parties.”

“The incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper UAV, provoked by [R]ussia in the Black Sea, is [P]utin’s signal of readiness to expand the conflict zone with the involvement of other parties,” he tweeted. “The all-in tactic is the constant raising of rates in conditions of a strategic loss and hoping that circumstances would change.”

Read his tweets: