Russians Claim They Shot Down US Spy Drone over Black Sea

A Russian newspaper said on Monday that the country's military could have shot down a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea.

Pravda, a Russian daily broadsheet, ran an article with the subhead: "The Russian Aerospace Forces may have shot down an American drone over the Black Sea."

The newspaper said the information was first circulated by the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, which has links to the Russian Aerospace Forces. Late on Monday, the channel appeared to suggest that something had been shot down over the Black Sea. Newsweek has as yet been unable to verify this claim and has contacted the U.S. Department of Defense and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

"Well then. A start has been made. Congratulations to everyone involved. Handsome guys! We are waiting for an 'OK' from the Yankees about 'unprofessional actions'," the channel said. "There is now increased turbulence in the Black Sea. Let's see whether it's on an ongoing basis or whether it was a one-off event."

The Telegram channel didn't elaborate in its initial post on what U.S. asset it claimed was shot down. Pravda reported "it is possible that the downed drone could have been an RQ-4 Global Hawk."

In a separate post, the Fighterbomber channel said: "If [the Yankees] fly again, it means that they are quite prepared for the loss of a Global Hawk (or even more than one)."

The American RQ-4 Global Hawk spy drone is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance notes, citing a U.S. Air Force review.

Russian newspaper Izvestia reported Monday, citing data from Flightradar24, that a U.S. Global Hawk spy drone was in airspace over annexed Crimea at the time of an attack against the port city of Sevastopol in the peninsula on Sunday.

Observers of the war in Ukraine, including open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander, pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that, despite the Telegram channel's claims, flight radar data shows that the spy drone's latest visible flight "ended with a safe landing in Sigonella [in Lentini, Sicily, in Italy] Monday morning."

"False Reports that a US drone was shot down yesterday in the Black Sea. I ran the history from yesterday and it landed back on base, no losses. Russian Propaganda," another X user said, sharing screen grabs from Flightradar24.

The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack on Sunday against Sevastopol using short-range U.S.-supplied ATACMS armed with cluster munitions, causing civilian casualties. Kyiv didn't comment on the attacks.

Attacks on Crimea have ramped up throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Kyiv looks to reclaim the Black Sea peninsula. The region was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Russia has also blamed the U.S. for the attack and has vowed "consequences."

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