March 14, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The United States has been conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in international waters in the Black Sea “for some time,” including before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday.

Ryder said that Russia has not recovered the downed drone. 

Ryder would not say whether the MQ-9 drone was armed, but added that the Defense Department is working to declassify imagery from the intercept.

The US State Department is summoning the Russian ambassador to convey its "strong objections" to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, a spokesperson said.

The “high-level engagement” with Ambassador Anatoly Antonov was expected to take place later Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

During the meeting, the ambassador will “hear directly from senior officials about our strong objections to what was clearly an unsafe and unprofessional intercept on the part of a Russian aircraft," the spokesperson said.

In Moscow, US Ambassador Lynne Tracy “has conveyed a strong message to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs” about the incident, according to Price. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently traveling and is not in Washington, DC.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not spoken to his Russian counterpart about the Russian aircraft intercepting a US Reaper drone, resulting in its downing over international waters.

The MQ-9 Reaper drone was conducting “routine operations in international airspace” on Tuesday when two Russian Su-27 aircraft intercepted it, a US military statement said.

One of the Russian aircraft hit the drone, resulting in “a crash and complete loss” of the drone, Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa said.

The owner of a car blown up Tuesday in the center of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol has died in the hospital from his wounds, the Russian-backed regional administration said in a Telegram post. 

Two others, a woman and a child, were also injured, according to Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the pro-Russian Zaporizhzhia region military-civilian administration.

All three have been hospitalized, he said. 

The explosion was carried out with an improvised explosive device, according to Rogov, and it happened near a market.

Rogov said a local pro-Russian entrepreneur was the target of the alleged attack. 

CNN is not able to independently verify those claims. 

The United States has briefed allies about Russia's downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, according to the State Department.

Spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday the US was “not in position to speak to what the Russians intended to do” with the maneuvers that brought the drone down, but noted that “the motivations matter much less than what actually transpired.”

He said the US is "engaged at high levels with allies."

The US State Department’s Global Engagement Center on Tuesday released a new report outlining Russia’s attempts to spread disinformation about American and Ukrainian biological weapons. 

The eight-page report does not seem to present new information about the disinformation effort, but rather gives a comprehensive look at the widespread efforts on the matter, from the days of the Soviet Union to the current war in Ukraine.

The release of the report comes a day after a senior State Department official said that Russia and China have “clearly” aligned themselves on propaganda and disinformation regarding the war in Ukraine, and that the United States and the West have not invested enough over the years in countering such disinformation.

Tuesday’s report noted that “Russia, like the Soviet Union before it, has pushed false claims for decades about biological weapons in an attempt to create mistrust in the peaceful global efforts and public health institutions that counter biological threats.”

“Russia has a history of accusing others of doing what it is doing itself, and its recent biological weapons claims related to Ukraine are no different. The United States assesses that Russia continues to maintain an offensive biological weapons program in violation of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention,” the report added. 

The report gave numerous examples of the disinformation that Russia has promulgated since the start of the war, including one of its "most notable false claims is that the United States worked with Ukraine to train an army of migratory birds, mosquitos and even bats to carry biological weapons into Russia," which it added was "absurd."

The report described the false claims as being spread through "Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem, such as Kremlin-funded media outlets and Russian Intelligence-linked websites" and "so-called ‘experts'" who speak to the Russian press. 

It also highlighted Russia's parliamentary commission investigating what it alleges are US biological laboratories in Ukraine, which the report said spreads false information about biological weapons.

The US Reaper drone that crashed after being struck by a Russian fighter jet has not been recovered in the Black Sea, a spokesperson for US European Command said.

In an earlier statement the commander for US Air Forces Europe said the drone was “hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," US Air Forces commander Gen. James Hecker said.

Some more context: CNN reported earlier a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.

The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone, according to the official.

President Joe Biden was briefed Tuesday morning by National security adviser Jake Sullivan about the incident, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. US officials are planning to contact Russia to voice concern about the drone incident, according to Kirby.

The US will continue operating over the Black Sea and won't be deterred by Russia's intercept of a drone in international airspace, a White House official said Tuesday.

"If the message is that they want to deter or dissuade us from flying and operating in international airspace, over the Black Sea, then that message will fail, because that is not going to happen," said John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.

Kirby repeatedly described the Russian intercept of the American drone as "unsafe" and "unprofessional," suggesting the actions went beyond previous Russian efforts at intercepting US aircraft.

He said the presence of American drones in the area was not new.

"We have been flying consistently over that airspace or a year," he said, arguing there was no reason to activate deconfliction lines with Russia or otherwise notify Moscow before flying over the Black Sea.

US President Joe Biden was briefed Tuesday morning about an incident between a US drone and a Russian jet over the Black Sea.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan briefed Biden on the matter, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. 

He said it was "not uncommon" for Russian aircraft to intercept US aircraft over the Black Sea, and said there had been other intercepts in recent weeks.

But he said the episode Tuesday was unique in how "unsafe, unprofessional and reckless" the Russian actions were.

US officials are planning to contact Russia to voice concern about the drone incident, according to Kirby.

"It is the State Department's intention to reach out and expressly and directly make our concerns known about this incident with Russian officials," Kirby said. He couldn't say whether that outreach had occurred.

Kirby declined to speculate on the intentions of the Russian pilots.

Some more context: CNN reported earlier a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.

The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone, according to the official.