Pentagon releases footage showing Russian fighter jet intercepting US drone

The Pentagon released a video on March 16, 2023, which it said showed a Russian military jet conducting an unsafe interception of a US Air Force surveillance drone in international airspace over the Black Sea. An Su-27 could be seen approaching the American MQ-9 drone, dumping fuel in its vicinity. A drone’s damaged propeller is also visible after the interception. The incident is the first direct US-Russia military contact since the Ukraine war began, worsening already strained relations between Washington and Moscow.