WATCH: Dramatic video released by US after Russian jet colliding with MQ-9 Reaper drone above Black Sea 

Video of a Russian fighter jet colliding with US drone has been released after it crashed over the Black Sea 

New footage of the US military drone which crashed in the Black Sea after a Russian jet collided with it has been released by the government.  

The US European Command (EUCOM) released the dramatic video which had been captured by a camera under the MQ-9 Reaper drone, as per New York Post, moments before two Su-27 fighter jets tried to spray jet fuel on it.  

The video shortly then starts to get pixelated as one of the jets can be seen colliding with the rear propeller of the drone, as seen in the footage posted by Flightradar24 on Twitter.

US Air Force has released the MQ-9 camera footage of the Russian Su-27 Black Sea interception 2 days ago.

Flightradar24 didn't track the drone involved. pic.twitter.com/ZOSddEnIXq

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 16, 2023

The release of the video comes only a day after U.S. Gen. Mark Miley stated that the drone crash appeared to be intentional.  

 “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,” he said. 

On the other hand, Russian officials claimed that their fighter jets did not come in contact with the drones, as stated by Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov on Telegram.  

He also called the incident as a “response to the US deliberately and provocatively encroaching on Moscow’s airspace”.  

Antonov said, “The unacceptable activity of the US military in the close proximity to our borders is a cause for concern”. 

“They gather intelligence, which is subsequently used by the Kyiv [Ukraine] regime to strike at our armed forces and territory”, he added.  

The U.S. military had earlier described the incident as a “reckless intercept” and said that one of the Russian Su-27 collied with the spy drone at 7.03 am (0603 GMT).  

“Several times before the collision, the Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on the MQ-9 — possibly trying to blind or damage it — and flew in front of the unmanned drone in unsafe maneuvers”, said a statement by the U.S. military after the incident, as per Reuters.  

U.S. Air Force General James Hecker who is in charge of the U.S Airforce in the region stated that “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,”  

He added, “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash”.

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