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According to pro-Russian reports, Putin’s military shot down a US drone over the Black Sea. But the incident gives rise to speculation.
Munich – A suspected shooting down of a drone over the Black Sea by Russian forces is causing a mystery in the Ukraine war. Russian media claim it was a US drone. But there seems to be no evidence of this yet. The incident seems puzzling.
On Monday evening (24 June), the Telegram channel, which is close to the Russian Aerospace Forces, claimed Fighter Bomberthat something had been shot down over the Black Sea. The Russian daily Pravda then wrote that it could have been an RQ-4 Global Hawk drone. In March 2023, a US drone crashed over the Black Sea after colliding with a Russian fighter jet.
US drone shot down over Crimea? No official confirmation
The US military uses the drone worldwide for surveillance and reconnaissance flights. It flies at high altitudes and has a long endurance. The unmanned aerial vehicle collects data in all weather conditions, both during the day and at night. Russia accuses the US of using such drones to collect information for Kiev in order to use it for attacks against Vladimir Putin’s troops in the Ukraine war, such as on Sunday in the attack on Sevastopol in Crimea.
But it is unclear whether there was actually a shooting. Fighter Bomber remained cryptic on Telegram, writing only: “Congratulations to all involved” and “There is now increased turbulence in the Black Sea. Let’s see if this is a one-off event.” The US news magazine Newsweek asked both the US Department of Defense and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
Just propaganda? War observers contradict pro-Russian portrayal
While the Russian newspaper Izvestia citing data from Flightradar24 reported that during the attack on Sevastopol, “a US spy drone of the type ‘Global Hawk’ was in the airspace above the Crimea“, war observers contradict this portrayal. For example, open source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander wrote at Xthat flight radar data showed that “the last visible flight of the spy drone ended with a safe landing in Sigonella [Militärflugplatz auf Sizilien] ended on Monday morning.”
Another user spoke of “Russian propaganda”. Reports that a US drone was shot down over the Black Sea were “false”. He shared screenshots of Flightradar24that showed that the drone had “landed back at the base.” “No casualties.” Last October, there was a similar incident when a Russian fighter jet forced a US drone off the ground. (mt)
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