White House spokesman John Kirby announced on Wednesday that the U.S. military reconnaissance drone that crashed in the Black Sea after being intercepted by two Russian fighter jets may not be recoverable at all.
Kirby stated in an interview with CNN, "It has not been recovered. I'm not sure we will be able to recover it," adding that "the location where it fell in the Black Sea has very deep waters, so we are still assessing whether we will undertake any recovery efforts. It may not be feasible."
He noted that U.S. authorities have taken precautionary measures to ensure that the Russians cannot extract useful intelligence information from the drone if they manage to recover it. He further mentioned that this means the drone is "ours," and authorities will continue to explore recovery options.
On Wednesday, Russia announced it would attempt to recover the drone wreckage. It denied responsibility for the incident and stated that relations with the United States have reached "their lowest levels."
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that, in the first incident of its kind since the onset of the Ukrainian war, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets damaged the drone, exacerbating the already strained relations between Washington and Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the crash on the "dangerous maneuvers" of the drone, asserting that its aircraft did not come into contact with it. The incident, which occurred over international waters on Tuesday, raises the possibility of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia regarding Ukraine, which Moscow invaded over a year ago, supported by Western allies with intelligence and weaponry.
