March 15, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

On Tuesday, a Russian Su-27 fighter forced down a US MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea.

In comments the following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that relations between Russia and the US had hit their “lowest point.”

But the lowest point since when? With the US and Russia routinely scraping bottom when it comes to bilateral relations, perhaps we need new superlatives to describe how bad things are.

A bit of historical perspective serves as a reminder that confrontation between the two nuclear-armed nations can be much sharper:

The war in Syria. In February 2018, a US contingent on the ground in eastern Syria clashed with a force advancing on their base that included members of the Russian private military company Wagner. US troops called in air strikes and artillery on the opposing force, inflicting dozens of casualties on the Wagner mercenaries and their Syrian allies.

The Cold War. Though the Cold War saw the Cuban missile crisis and several nuclear close calls, it’s less remembered today that the Cold War escalated into a hot one between US and Soviet forces at several points during the decades-long confrontation.

The Korean War. During the Korean War, US fighter pilots engaged in aerial combat against Soviet MiGs. Those dogfights, however, remained shrouded in secrecy, with records quickly classified and participants sworn to secrecy. One of the reasons? Fears that making such incidents public might increase tensions between the two superpowers. The same was also true for manned surveillance flights that the US carried out around — and sometimes over — Soviet territory. The downing of the U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers in 1960 is the most famous case, creating major embarrassment for the United States and stirring worldwide media attention. But most of those programs remained classified, and out of the news, for decades.

Read more:

The Russians have reached the MQ-9 crash site in the Black Sea, according to two US officials, as the Kremlin promises to attempt to recover the US surveillance drone.

Russia’s Navy has several ships in the Black Sea, including ships based in Crimean ports, which would have placed them in an advantageous position to attempt to recover the US MQ-9 Reaper drone after its encounter with Russian fighter jets on Tuesday.

The drone came down in international waters approximately 70 miles southwest of Crimea, one of the officials said. It is unclear if Russia was able to recover any of the wreckage from the drone when they arrived at the crash site.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby would not confirm that Russians were at the site. He reiterated however that the US took steps to make it “impossible” for Russia to acquire any useful information from the drone’s remnants.

“Whatever’s left of that that’s floating will probably be flight control surfaces, that kind of thing,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Probably nothing of real intrinsic value to them in terms of re-engineering or anything like that. We’re not overly concerned about whatever they might get their hands on.”
He added: “It’s our property and they have no business recovering anything.”

The Russian Security Council Secretary said Wednesday that Russia will try to obtain the drone wreckage 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 Nikolai Patrushev on on Russian state TV Rossiya 1.

The drone landed in a part of the Black Sea that’s likely almost a mile deep, Gen. Mark A. Milley said, making any recovery effort extremely difficult. The US also has no Navy ships in the Black Sea, compounding the challenges in any US recovery attempt.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States on Wednesday of “ignoring” the airspace restrictions that Russia imposed in the coastal regions of the Black Sea since the start of the war with Ukraine. 

“They completely ignore the fact that after the start of a special military operation, our military declared the relevant areas of the Black Sea, adjacent in certain places, as areas with a limited status for the use of any aircraft,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian state TV Rossiya-1.

Lavrov also blamed the US for “constantly looking for provocations aimed at increasing tensions.”

“Any incidents that provoke a clash between the two great nuclear powers always pose a great risk,” he said.

The main focus of a telephone conversation between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, on Wednesday was on the “causes and consequences” of the downing of a US drone over the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said.

Shoigu told Austin the incident was “caused by the US actions of non-compliance with the flight restriction zone declared by the Russian Federation” established in connection with the special military operation in the region, according to a readout.

“It is noted that the US flights of strategic unmanned aerial vehicles off the coast of Crimea are provocative in nature, which creates preconditions for the escalation of the situation in the Black Sea area,” the readout said.

Shoigu said that Russia “will continue to respond to all provocations in a proportionate manner,” according to the readout of the call.

Some context: The US said that while flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, a Russian Su-27 jet dumped fuel on a US MQ-9 Reaper drone several times. One of the Russian jets then hit the drone, damaging it and forcing US officials to crash it into the water.

United States officials say they likely will not be able to retrieve a drone forced down by Russian jets in the Black Sea. The incident is part of a pattern of “aggressive, risky and unsafe” behavior from Russia, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the incident is under investigation and that the US is in “close coordination” with allies.

Here’s everything to know to get up to speed:

Here are the other key headlines from the war:

Russian shelling killed at least two people and injured five others in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said in a Telegram post. 

Two women, ages 62 and 57, were killed in the city of Marhanets, he said. According to preliminary information, a man and three women were hospitalized, and another injured woman will be treated on an outpatient basis, he said. 

More than a dozen multistory buildings and several private houses in Marhanets were damaged in the shelling, the regional administration said in a separate post. 

“One of them caught fire — rescuers have already extinguished the fire. A shop, a cultural center and a dormitory were damaged,” the regional administration said. 

Less than 3,000 people — including 33 children — remain in the embattled city of Bakhmut, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration.

“The evacuation continues, and not only in Bakhmut, we are working along the entire frontline,” Kyrylenko said on national television Wednesday. 

Evacuation is mandatory in the region, but some people still refuse to leave, he said. 

“There are still people who definitely do not want to leave, and it is a very difficult task to persuade them. More than 1,100,000 people out of 1,670,000 have left Donetsk region since February 24, 2022,” he added. 

A soldier from Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet over Bakhmut, according to a commander.

The announcement comes after the head of Ukraine’s President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, also said forces from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade had shot down a Russian military plane near Bakhmut. 

Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the Russian military “continues to unsuccessfully try to surround the city and advance.”

“The soldiers of the 93rd Brigade, along with other defenders, are holding back the enemy’s fierce pressure there. Due to their work, enemy tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, MLRS and ammunition depots are blown up,” Syrskyi said in a Telegram post. 

“The occupiers are also putting pressure on the Kupyansk and Lyman directions,” he said, adding that soldiers from the 92nd Brigade have managed to destroy Russian radar systems and command centers in those directions. 

CNN has been unable to confirm the Ukrainian claims.

The Russian Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said Wednesday he had denied all accusations against Russia after being summoned to the US State Department in connection with the downing of a US Reaper drone on Tuesday.

Antonov said he was invited to the State Department to talk with Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Karen Donfried. Antonov was summoned to “convey our strong objections,” department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday.

“For 15 minutes we spoke directly about this issue and for the other 15 minutes we talked about Russian concerns regarding various aspects of US activity,” Antonov said in an interview with Russian state TV Rossiya-1.

The conversation was “very calm” and “respectful” and “I categorically denied all accusations against the Russian armed forces,” he added.

“No one hit the table with a shoe, threatening something,” he said.

While the US is working through recovery operations for a downed MQ-9 Reaper drone intercepted by Russian aircraft on Tuesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that it is “no longer” of intelligence value. 

“(I)t probably broke up, probably not a lot to recover, frankly,” Milley said. “As far as the loss of anything of sensitive intelligence etc., as normal we would take — and we did take — mitigating measures. So we are quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.”

Milley said the US knows where the drone landed in the Black Sea, and that it is likely four to five thousand feet under the surface, which would make recovery operations “very difficult” for anyone. He said the US does not have any naval surface vessels in the Black Sea at the moment, but that “we’ll work up options.”

“(W)e don’t have any ships there, but we do have a lot of allies and friends in the area,” he added. “We’ll work through recovery operations, that’s US property, and we’ll leave it at that at this point.”

A small number of Afghan fighters are working with the private military company, Wagner, which is fighting in Ukraine, according to the group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“The Afghan fighters of the Wagner PMC are working with us in small numbers,” Prigozhin said in a statement published by his holding company, Concord. He also said Wagner now also has an artillery unit.

CNN is unable to independently verify those claims. 

Some background: Earlier in March, Prigozhin said there were currently no Serbian nationals among the Wagner fighters in Ukraine, after “the last one” left a few months earlier. 

Prigozhin was responding to accusations by Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic that Wagner has tried to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine. 

Russia is making “small tactical advances” around the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but “at great cost,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday.

Right now there is intense fighting in and around the eastern city, Milley said, but in other places on the front line, there have been “significant exchanges of artillery, but no significant maneuver gains by either side.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that a Russian capture of Bakhmut would give them an “open road” to capturing other key Ukrainian cities in the east. 

More than a year after the invasion of Ukraine started, Milley said Russian soldiers have been thrown into the war without “any sort of synchronized coordination and direction.”

“Russia continues to pay severely in terms of lives and military equipment for its continued war of choice,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he applauds the “valor” and the “persistence” of the Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Bakhmut.

“They have done amazing … I think the Russians have been working to take Bakhmut for some seven months or so now and they haven’t been very successful – and that’s because of the diligence, the commitment, the focus of the Ukrainian soldiers,” Austin said.

He added that any decision on whether Ukrainian forces should remain in the eastern city or be repositioned would be made by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked Wednesday about comments by potential presidential candidates that support for Ukraine should not be a priority and if he was concerned that election rhetoric could undermine American support for Ukraine going forward.

Austin said that he’s seen “bipartisan support” for providing security assistance to Ukraine throughout the conflict “up to this point.”

“I expect that we will continue to see that going forward. We’ve heard some senior leaders on both sides of the fence say that, and so I expect that will continue,” Austin said.

“Ukraine matters. It matters not to just Ukraine or to the United States, it matters to the world. This is about the rules-based international order,” he added.

He noted that countries from around the world “continue to come back” to meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

“They continue to come back and they continue to work hard to ensure that Ukraine gets everything that it needs to be successful. And that will remain our focus,” he said.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the United States does not know if the Russian fighter jet intentionally hit the American drone over the Black Sea.

This is something officials are looking into, he said at a news conference Wednesday, adding that he has a call scheduled with his Russian counterpart to discuss that point, among other things.

“We know that the intercept was intentional, we know that the aggressive behavior was intentional, we also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe,” Milley said.

As for the physical contact between the jet and drone “that remains to be seen.”

However, Milley said the US has “absolute evidence of the contact and the intercept.”

US officials have said two Russian jets dumped fuel on the US MQ-9 drone Tuesday in international airspace. Then, one jet “struck our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Russia has denied that it had direct contact with the drone.

“There’s no question that that part of its intentional,” Milley said, referring to the jets dumping fuel on the drone. “The actual physical contact of the aircraft, that I’m not so sure.”

Russia is “running out of capability” after invading Ukraine more than a year ago, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. 

“Russia has had to depend on Iran and North Korea and has had to use equipment dating back to World War II,” Austin said. “So Russia is running out of capability and running out of friends.” 

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin has “now had a year’s worth of proof that the United States and the Contact Group will support Ukraine’s right to defend itself for the long haul.”

“But Putin still hopes that he can wear down Ukraine and wait us out,” he added. “So we can’t let up, and we won’t.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday he had spoken on the phone with his Russian counterpart Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu following an altercation that forced a US drone to crash in the Black Sea.

He did not disclose any details about the conversation.

Austin said two Russian jets dumped fuel on the US MQ-9 drone that was “conducting routine operations” Tuesday in international airspace. Then, one jet “struck our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash.” Russia has denied that it had direct contact with the drone.

Russian aircraft engaged in “dangerous and reckless and unprofessional behavior in the international airspace over the Black Sea,” the secretary said.

The incident is part of a pattern of “aggressive, risky and unsafe” behavior from Russia, Austin added.

Ukrainian forces have shot down a Russian military plane near the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office.

Yermak posted a video on Telegram Wednesday that appears to show the downing of the plane.

CNN is unable to independently verify Yermak’s claim. Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform is also reporting the incident, quoting Yermak. 

In the video, a white parachute is seen, suggesting the pilot was able to eject. 

The Ukrainian military has shot down at least 304 Russian aircraft since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, to March 15, 2023, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry. CNN is unable to independently verify this number. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Russia’s downing of a US drone over the Black Sea “is being investigated.”

Speaking at a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Blinken declined to speak to the motive or intent behind the incident, saying he would let the investigation proceed.

“What I can say very clearly is this was a reckless and unsafe action,” Blinken said.

Blinken said the US is “in close coordination” with allies and partners on the matter.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters have captured a small settlement north of Bakhmut earlier on Wednesday.

In an audio message published on his media Telegram channel, Prigozhin claims Wagner fighters have captured the settlement of Zaliznianske, located about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north of the embattled city.

“In the absence of ammunition, amid a projectile famine, in the hardest battles, the assault troops are widening the encirclement of Bakhmut. Zaliznianske settlement was taken by Wagner PMC assault troops this morning,” he said.

CNN is unable to independently verify his claims.

In his message, Prigozhin again highlights what he calls “a projectile famine,” alluding to tensions with Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Prigozhin has frequently complained that his fighters are not receiving enough ammunition while doing the bulk of the fighting around Bakhmut.

The top US general is expected to speak with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday, a US defense official tells CNN, one day after a Russian jet collided with a US drone over the Black Sea in international airspace.

Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley is expected to speak with the Chief of Russian General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, by telephone on Wednesday, after the US and Russia put out different accounts of the incident over the Black Sea.

The two military leaders have not spoken since late December.    

More on this: It is unclear whether Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will also speak with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Such conversations often happen in tandem, with the top generals holding a conversation after the defense secretary and defense minister have spoken.

An American MQ-9 Reaper drone was forced down by Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea Tuesday — the first known interaction between US and Russian forces of this nature since the war in Ukraine began just over a year ago.

This type of US drone is remotely piloted and primarily used for collecting intelligence.

The move by Russia to use a fighter jet to take it down was “combative,” Ret. US Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton said in an analysis.

“They have this very sophisticated jet they’re using to go after a really, what amounts to, a surveillance drone and they will do anything they can not only to irritate us but to destroy our capabilities,” he said.

Here’s a closer look at the US drone:

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.

“Without getting into too much detail, what I can say is that we’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone — that particular aircraft. And it’s the United States’ property. We obviously don’t want to see anybody getting their hands on it beyond us,” Kirby said.

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.” 

“As long as Russia controls Crimea, these kinds of incidents will be inevitable and the Black Sea will not be a safe place,” he said in an interview with the BBC, adding that the “only way to prevent such incidents is actually to kick Russia out of Crimea.” 

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. 

“As for the drone, the Americans keep saying that they are not participating in hostilities. This is yet another confirmation that they are directly involved in these events, in the war,” he added.  

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.

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:

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a large-scale effort to build up capacities in order to produce more weapons for his war in Ukraine.

Putin said increased production of weapons is “urgently needed,” and he assured that special attention would be paid to the legalities and allotment of funding toward the initiative while speaking to the board of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia on Wednesday.

“Primarily, in terms of the timely fulfillment of obligations for the supply of necessary weapons, equipment, ammunition for the needs of the special military operation, for the accurate implementation of all tasks of the state defense order, and the effective use of budgetary resources,” he said, using the euphemism for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

According to Putin, the government is allocating many resources for defense needs “without detriment to other areas.” But the funds “must be spent rationally, in strict accordance with the law,” he added.

“In addition, prosecutors should supervise the modernization of defense industry enterprises, including building up capacities for the production of an additional volume of weapons. A lot of effort is underway here. We need it urgently now and it will come in handy in the future,” he said. 

Putin said Russia is on a positive path and “strengthening the sovereignty” of the country. 

“We are with you at the stage of large-scale, positive changes aimed at strengthening the sovereignty of the country, its independence, the future of Russia and creating conditions for its confident development,” Putin said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that the US will “continue to fly and to operate” in accordance with international law. His comment comes one day after Russian aircraft hit a US drone over the Black Sea and forced it to be brought down into international waters. 

“This hazardous episode is part of a pattern of aggressive and risky and unsafe actions in international airspace,” Austin said. “So make no mistake, the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows. And it is incumbent upon Russia to operate as military aircraft in a safe and professional manner.”  

Austin made the comments at the Pentagon before a virtual meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Relations between Russia and the US are at their “lowest point” and in a “deplorable state,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Wednesday after the US military said a Russian fighter jet forced a US Air Force drone to crash in the Black Sea.

According to Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the incident, but there was no contact at the highest level between Moscow and Washington.

Peskov added that “Russia did not refuse constructive dialogue, and is not refusing it now.” 

He pointed to a Russian Defense Ministry statement published Tuesday claiming that there was no physical contact between the aircraft.

“I suggest that you focus on the statement of the Ministry of Defense, which clearly states that no weapons were used, and there was no physical contact,” Peskov said.

The drone was conducting routine operations in international airspace on Tuesday when it was “intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in a statement. 

The Russian ambassador to the US said Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US, but “as we see it, American aircraft have no business being near the Russian border.”  

The incident marks the first 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, with the US calling Russia’s actions “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional.”

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.

The drone that the US military said was forced down over the Black Sea by a Russian fighter jet has not been recovered — and it may never be, according to John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.

“I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to recover it. I mean, 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 told CNN.

“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.

When pressed further, Kirby said, “I certainly can’t speak for Russian efforts or what they may or may not be trying to take off the surface of the water. I can just tell you that we’re still assessing that situation ourselves.” 

One of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times, a statement from US European Command said. The aircraft then hit the propeller of the drone, prompting US forces to bring the MQ-9 drone down in international waters.

Kirby reiterated it is “not uncommon” for Russian jets to try to intercept or harass US drones.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied the Russian jet had come into contact with the drone in a statement on Tuesday, saying the fighter jets “scrambled to identify the intruder” after detecting it over the Black Sea, adding that the drone “went into an unguided flight with a loss of altitude.”

Kirby said on Wednesday morning: “First of all, they don’t belong in Ukraine. Secondly, they certainly don’t belong in Crimea. And we were flying, again, well outside of the airspace that was, that’s claimed by Ukraine or any other country. The Black Sea doesn’t belong to Russia. … We’re going to continue to operate, again, in complete in accordance with international law.”

An S-300 missile hit the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

“At 10:20 a S-300 missile hit a residential area in Kharkiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district,” said the spokesperson, Dmytro Chubenko.

He added that there had been no reports of injuries. 

More on Russian strikes: Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 40 missiles had hit Kharkiv since the beginning of the year.

“Only since the beginning of this year – in less than two-and-a-half months – over 40 enemy missiles have already struck Kharkiv,” Zelensky said, calling the resulting “ruins, debris, shell holes in the ground” a self-portrait of Russia.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will visit Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later this week to discuss the Nordic country’s application to join NATO.

The visit, at the invitation of Erdogan, will take place Thursday and Friday, the Turkish presidency said Wednesday. 

Niinistö will first visit earthquake-affected areas in southeastern Turkey and then head to Istanbul for talks, the Finnish presidency said in a statement.

Some context: Turkey’s concern about Sweden and Finland’s potential accession to NATO centers mostly on what the Turkish government claims are security grounds.

Turkey claims that both countries, though particularly Sweden, are harboring militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a designated terror group in Turkey, Sweden, the United States and Europe.

Erdogan says he would like these individuals to be extradited; Sweden has made clear this won’t happen. 

In late February, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that although Turkey had expressed some concerns about both Sweden and Finland’s applications to join NATO, it was predominantly concerned by Sweden’s application. 

Stoltenberg has repeatedly called Finland and Sweden’s accession a “top priority” for the alliance, calling on Hungary and Turkey to ratify both countries’ applications soon.

British and German fighter jets jointly intercepted a Russian aircraft near Estonian airspace on Tuesday, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. 

The ministry said Royal Air Force (RAF) typhoon jets from the 140 Expeditionary Air Wing worked with German typhoon jets to escort a Russian IL78 Midas air-to-air refueling aircraft after it failed to respond to air traffic control in Estonia. 

The Russian plane was flying between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave that sits between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic Sea.

While such interceptions are a routine NATO mission, it was the RAF’s first joint NATO air policing interception alongside a German air force typhoon.

China, Iran and Russia will begin joint military exercises in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement. 

The drills between the three countries’ armies and navies will run through Sunday, the statement said.

The statement said the exercises would build on joint maritime drills between the three nations held in 2019 and 2022.

Remember: China has forged a “no limits” partnership with Russia during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with deepening diplomatic and economic ties between the two. Western officials have also previously raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s growing defense partnership with Tehran has intensified over the past year as Russia has become increasingly desperate for external military support for its war against Ukraine.

Russia might be bogged down in its vicious onslaught on Ukraine, but President Vladimir Putin is winning big elsewhere — in the Republican presidential primary.

The two highest-polling potential GOP nominees — former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — are making clear that if they make it to the White House, Ukraine’s lifeline of US weapons and ammunition would be in danger and the war could end on Putin’s terms. Their stands underscore rising antipathy among grassroots conservatives to the war and President Joe Biden’s marshaling of the West to bankroll Kyiv’s resistance to Putin’s unprovoked invasion.

“The death and destruction must end now!” Trump wrote in replies to a questionnaire from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson about the war and US involvement. DeSantis, answering the same questions, countered with his most unequivocal signal yet that he’d downgrade US help for Ukraine if he wins the presidency. “We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland,” he wrote.

Trump’s warnings that only he can stop World War III and DeSantis’ main argument that saving Ukraine is not a core US national security interest will likely gain even more traction following one of the most alarming moments yet in the war on Tuesday. The apparent downing of a US drone by a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea was a step closer to the scenario that everyone has dreaded since the war erupted a year ago — a direct clash between US and Russian forces.

Read the full analysis here.

Several key Republican senators on Tuesday pushed back against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent comments that US support for Ukraine is not a “vital” national interest, exposing a key intraparty fault line ahead of the 2024 election.

On Monday, DeSantis, who has not yet announced a presidential bid, said in a statement responding to a questionnaire from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that “while the US has many vital national interests … becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.”

“We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted,” DeSantis wrote in response to Carlson’s request for 2024 GOP presidential candidates to provide their views on the war in Ukraine.

Read the full story here.

A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of a MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to US officials. The drone was flying over international waters when one of two Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times, according to the US European Command. 

Russia has pushed back, denying that its jets came “into contact” with the drone. The Russian Ambassador to the US said Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US but “as we see it, American aircraft have no business being near the Russian border.”

Here’s what to know:

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Ambassador to the US, said Tuesday that Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US but “as we see it, American aircraft have no business being near the Russian border.”

Talking to reporters after he was summoned to the State Department following an incident that led to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea, Antonov asked, “Could you imagine if such a UAV appeared suddenly close to New York or San Francisco?”

“Can you imagine the reaction of the US press, the Pentagon, to this drone? What kind of drone was it? Think about this before summoning me to the State Department. It’s a multipurpose [drone], with strike capabilities of up to a 1,700 kilograms explosive payload,” he said. “Tell me how any MoD of any country would react to the threat of such danger appearing along their borders?”

Antonov did say he wanted to point out “how professional the Russian pilots were in their actions. No contact was made, nor were any weapons used by our fighter jets.”  

“I think it’s better that we discuss at the State Department avenues of cooperation and mutual action, but unfortunately, my communication with the State Department lately has just been to address their protests about the actions of the Russian Federation,” he said. 
“The Russian Federation is not interested in confrontation. The Russian side is interested in pragmatic relations with the USA in the interests of both the Russian and American people.” 

Some background: The Reaper drone was flying over international waters when one of two Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times, according to the US European Command. The aircraft then hit the propeller of the drone, prompting US forces to bring the MQ-9 drone 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.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that a transfer of Poland’s supply of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “might happen within the next four to six weeks.” 

Morawiecki made the remark while answering questions from reporters in Warsaw.  

It comes after Polish President Andrzej Duda told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a late February interview that Ukrainian pilots were “prepared to operate” MiG-29 fighter jets.

Ukrainian pilots however will likely need more training to “be ready to fly modern aircraft at NATO standards, such as F-16s,” Duda said, emphasizing that the “training of a pilot is much more complicated and much longer [than the training of a tank operator].” 

Duda told CNN that modern weapons are “key” to shoring up Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Russia. When asked if that includes fighter jets, he responded: “If there is such a need, of course, yes.” 

The US is taking measures to ensure the drone that was downed over the Black Sea won’t fall into the wrong hands, a top White House official said Tuesday.

“Without getting into too much detail, what I can say is that we’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone — that particular aircraft. And it’s the United States property. We obviously don’t want to see anybody getting their hands on it beyond us,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

Pressed on whether the US would show evidence to back its account of what happened – given Russia’s denial — Kirby noted the US is “looking at some imagery to see if any of that might be suitable” for public release, but said no decisions have been made at this time. 

He also dismissed the denial issued by Russia’s defense ministry.

Kirby pointed to the summoning of Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov to the State Department as “one of the advantages of having diplomatic lines open,” saying that in the meeting, US officials walked the ambassador “through the very significant and very real concerns over this unsafe and unprofessional conduct by Russian pilots.”

He reiterated his condemnation of the incident, warning of immediate and broader implications.

“We certainly don’t want to see this war escalate beyond what it has already done to the Ukrainian people,” Kirby said, calling it “inappropriate, unsafe, unprofessional conduct by the Russian pilots.”

Russia does not want “confrontation” with the US, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said Tuesday after he was summoned to the State Department following an incident that led to the downing of a US Reaper drone over the Black Sea.

He was inside the State Department for a little over half an hour. Antonov said Assistant Secretary Karen Donfried conveyed the US’ concerns about the incident, and he “exchanged our remarks on this issue because we have some differences.”

“It seems to me that it was a constructive conversation on this issue. I have heard her remarks, I hope that she has understood what I have mentioned,” Antonov said in response to a question from CNN.

Antonov reiterated the Russian defense ministry’s denial that any Russian aircraft came into contact with the drone.

He also claimed that Russia “had informed about this space that was identified as a zone for special military operation.”

“We have warned not to enter, not to penetrate,” he said, asking how the US would react if a Russian drone came close to New York or San Francisco.

A Russian fighter aircraft “did not use airborne weapons or come into contact” with a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday. 

“On 14 March 2023 in the morning, the Russian airspace control systems have detected an American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in the statement, which they also released in English. 
“The drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace, and published in accordance with international standards,” the ministry said. 

The ministry said Russian fighter jets “scrambled to identify the intruder.”

“As a result of quick maneuvering around 9:30 a.m. (Moscow time), the MQ-9 drone went into an unguided flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface,” the ministry said. 

“The Russian aircraft did not use on-board weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle, and returned safely to their home airfield.”  

Some more context: Earlier Tuesday, the US Air Force said a Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea after damaging the propeller of the drone. The White House is calling Moscow’s actions “unsafe, unprofessional and reckless.”

While Russian and US aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during the Ukraine war, this is the first known interaction of this nature since the conflict began, and a potentially dangerous escalation at a critical time in the fighting.

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 the US military.

The Reaper drone 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 drone several times, a statement from US European Command said.

The aircraft then hit the propeller of the drone, prompting US forces to bring the MQ-9 drone 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.

“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in the statement. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”

The incident marks the first 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, with the US calling Russia’s actions “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional.”

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that Russia does not want “confrontation” between his country and the US after he was summoned to the State Department following the downing of the drone.

“We prefer not to create a situation where we can face unintended clashes or unintended incidents between the Russian Federation and the United States,” Antonov said.

Read the full story here.