An
extraordinary look,
rarely seen at the moment
when a Russian fighter jet collided
with a US drone.
The US military
just put out this video today
and in this we'll show you
it goes out of communication a bit.
But take a look at this still shot.
You can see
one of the things that the government,
the Pentagon has laid out.
The Russian fighter jet
just dumping the U.S.
dumping fuel at one shot.
And then Russia has denied
that the collision
that it collided with the drone.
But in these side by side
photos, you can see that
the drones propeller has been damaged.
And you can see through the video
from the collision you see right there.
Let's get over to Oren
Liebermann, who's live at the Pentagon,
because not only is this video
the fact that we are seeing it
extraordinary, Oren,
but you also are learning some more
about what
Russian leadership knew about this.
Absolutely.
So first, let's take a video,
a look at the video
to get a better sense of this.
And there are two clips
here of two different passes
from those Russian fighter jets
as they approach
the US MQ nine Reaper drone.
So here is the past
where they dump fuel as they get close
and in the first pass.
The fighter jet doesn't hit the Russian
I'm sorry, the U.S. drone.
And you can see the propeller
still spinning there.
The propeller is working fine.
It is the second clip
that makes it clearer
what happened here
and that the Russian denial
simply doesn't hold water.
That jet approaches Again,
a Russian Sukhoi su 27 fighter jet.
And as it passes, it
once again dumps fuel
as it hits the drone.
The video itself is disrupted
a little bit.
Essentially, it's pixelated
and goes to bars for a moment.
But when it comes back online,
you can see
the damaged propeller,
a propeller, obviously
not supposed
to look like that with a bent.
And that's the telling signal,
the telling clip of video
where you see the collision
between the Russian fighter jet
or the effects of the collision,
I should say, between the Russian fighter
jet and the drone itself.
Now, for more context on this,
we have learned from two U.S.
officials familiar
with the intelligence behind the matter
that the instructions to harass the drone
essentially
the orders
to the Russian fighter pilots came from
some of the highest levels
of the Russian
Ministry of Defense to harass, disturb,
disrupt in some way
the operation of that U.S.
surveillance drone.
Those officials
say it's not clear
that it went higher than that.
In other words,
it's not clear that Russian
President Vladimir Putin knew in advance
this was going to happen.
But it is telling
that the officials are telling us
that the highest levels
of the Russian Ministry of Defense
gave the orders to harass the U.S.
drone over the black sea.
The drone itself
then went down, according to U.S.
Air Force
Europe,
some 70 or 80 miles southwest of Crimea.
Now for the follow on here,
the video itself
gives support to the U.S.
side in the U.S.
position and essentially narrative
of what happened here
and seriously undercuts
the Russian claims
that there had been no collision
which was what the U.S.
or rather the Russian ambassador
to the U.S.
said after he was summoned
to the State Department
on the day this story came out.
Kate, we will continue to follow this.
And, of course,
to see this incredible video
of how this all played out.
Absolutely. Great reporting, Oren.
Thank you very much.
For more on this.
Let me bring in retired
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
He's a former commander of U.S.
Army Forces in Europe.
General, thanks for coming in.
19 passes made by the jets
going on for 30 to 40 minutes
is what we're learning.
What sticks out to you in this video?
Well, two things.
First of all, this obviously was
was not an accident.
This was a deliberate act.
And I think or did a good job of sort
of laying out the context for that.
But what makes us important
is not the loss of a drone, but this is
this is what it means to defend
the so-called international rules
based order,
international airspace,
freedom of navigation, claims
to territorial waters.
All of these
things are being played out now
because of Russia's
illegal annexation of Crimea
and their illegal war of aggression
against Ukraine.
So this is a
symptom of this And,
of course,
the Chinese will watch to see
how we respond to this as well
because of their own
illegal claims in the Pacific.
What do you think of how?
What do you think
first of how the response
we have heard from the Pentagon,
from the defense secretary,
from the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs, coming out very clearly
and talking about this now
a couple of times.
Yeah, I've been impressed, actually,
though,
Secretary
Ashton, of course,
conveying the seriousness of this,
Chairman Milley,
but also not overreacting.
This is not the kind of thing
where now we're going to go out and start
kinetic engagements
against Russian aircraft.
Instead, what Secretary Austin said.
All right. We're going to put another drone
back up there.
This is international airspace.
We were doing everything
according to law.
And so this is how you protect and defend
the use of international airspace,
which affects
all of us, not just there in and around
Ukraine.
It also is important,
I think, to see the example
of the United States
with transparency, immediately
releasing a video saying
this is what happened
and you and your team
there have done a good job
of making it clear what happened.
You can be sure those
two Russian aircraft
have video capability.
And if they were, in fact,
no not guilty of what it's clear
that they've done.
No doubt
the Kremlin would have rolled out
that video immediately
to make their case.
And we haven't seen any of that
One question is always, you know,
with every move, is there
is there a counter move from Russia?
Do you do you think,
though, important for transparency,
as you say,
showing leadership and transparency
on the part of the Pentagon?
Do you think Russia will interpret this
and see a reason to further respond
now that this video has been put out?
I think
they will wait to see what we do next.
Obviously,
I mean, this is the typical Kremlin
playbook of
deny everything distort, distract
to try and change the narrative.
And of course, if we don't respond
by putting a drone up again,
then this kind of
gives weight to their claim
that their airspace around Crimea
is actually theirs.
So we are correct
and the secretary is correct
to go back in and challenge that.
But I think there's no need to overreact
or try to shoot something down.
But we have to make sure we continue to
uphold freedom of navigation
and use of international airspace.
And the as we see in
the video is Oren laid out very well.
The video very clearly undercuts
Russia's denial,
though, a Russian strategy,
as you point to, General, that
the Russian jet,
that the Russian jet
did, that
the incident didn't happen, that
the Russian jet didn't clip the drone.
But what is still unclear
is whether the Russian pilots
intended to strike the drone.
Does the answer to that question matter?
Matter from your perspective?
Well,
this reflects exactly what John
Kirby said
yesterday, that
this is a reckless, unprovoked personal
and unsafe act by the Russian pilots.
I have not been impressed
over the past 14 months
with the level of training
and discipline of Russian pilots It's
one thing to take off and land and
and fly close to something.
But, I mean,
when you talk about
getting up next to another aircraft,
getting as close as they did there
with turbulence, things that can happen.
The chances of a mistake are very high.
And I think I don't know
that they intended to actually hit it.
I'm sure that what they wanted to do
was cause it to fail
or to
disrupt the operation by dumping
fuel on it,
which in itself,
obviously, that was a deliberate act
to actually hit it.
Of course, we don't know.
But I mean, when you get that close,
those are the kind of things
that can happen.
And again,
this is the same military
that is committing war crimes
every day in Ukraine.
And it reflects,
I think, also a very brutal,
ruthless sort of society there.
So I'm not surprised that their pilots
would be a reflection
of that in terms of undisciplined.
Hmm.
Lieutenant General Ben
Hodges, thank you very much.