Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said on Wednesday that the US would continue to conduct surveillance flights after an American reconnaissance drone was struck by a Russian warplane and downed over the Black Sea. “Make no mistake, the US will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows,” Austin said in remarks at the beginning of a virtual meeting of some 50 nations supporting Ukraine’s efforts in the war against Russia. “This hazardous episode is part of a pattern of aggressive and risky, and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace,” Austin said. “It is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner.”
The incident, the first known physical contact between the Russian and US militaries since the war in Ukraine began, has raised tensions between the superpowers, with both sides blaming the other.
