Moscow warns U.S. aircraft away from its air space after drone crash

Moscow told Washington on Wednesday to keep well away from its air space after a U.S. drone intercepted by Russian jets crashed into the Black Sea, the first known direct confrontation between the superpowers since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The U.S. military said the incident was caused by a mid-air collision after two Russian Su-27 fighter planes approached one of its MQ-9 Reaper drones on a reconnaissance mission over international waters.

The fighters harassed the drone and poured fuel on it, before one clipped the drone's propeller, causing it to crash into the sea, Washington said.

"This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional," said James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. air forces in Europe. White House spokesman John Kirby said U.S. officials had told Russia's ambassador Anatoly Antonov that Moscow should be more careful in international air space.

Moscow denied the aircraft had collided and said the drone had crashed after "sharp manoeuvres". It said the drone had "deliberately and provocatively" flown close to Russian air space with its transponders off, and Moscow had scrambled fighters to identify it.

"The unacceptable activity of the U.S. military in the close proximity to our borders is a cause for concern," Antonov, the ambassador, said in a statement, accusing Washington of using drones to "gather intelligence which is subsequently used by the Kyiv regime to strike at our armed forces and territory".

"Let us ask a rhetorical question: if, for example, a Russian strike drone appeared near New York or San Francisco, how would the U.S. Air Force and Navy react?" he said, calling on Washington to "stop making sorties near the Russian borders".

The Kremlin said there had been no high-level contacts with Washington over the incident. Bilateral relations were "in a very lamentable state" but "Russia has never refused constructive dialogue, and is not refusing now", said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Kyiv, for its part, said the incident showed Moscow was willing to "expand the conflict zone" to draw in other countries. Russia was raising the stakes as it faces "conditions of a strategic defeat" in Ukraine, tweeted Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council.

Washington has said neither it nor the Russians had recovered the wrecked drone.

The United States conducts regular surveillance flights in international air space in the region. It has supported Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military aid but says its troops have not become directly engaged in the war.