By Patrick Smith -
NBC News
The Department of Defense released declassified video on Thursday that it says shows a Russian Su-27 fighter harassing an unmanned US military drone in international airspace, chasing it and throwing fuel at it until it collided, disabling it. its propeller and caused it to end up falling into the Black Sea in international waters.
The images, released by the US European Command and filmed by the camera aboard the drone, show the fighter carrying out what the Pentagon describes as an "unsafe/unprofessional interception of a US Force MQ-9." Air in international airspace” this Tuesday.
US officials previously told Noticias Telemundo's sister network NBC News that Russian authorities had approved the aggressive actions of the Russian planes in an apparent effort to throw the drone off course or disable its surveillance capabilities.
Russia has denied that its planes came into "contact" with the drone and has blamed the United States, which it warned to stop "hostile" surveillance flights near its border to help Ukraine.
This is the first known direct confrontation between the two superpowers since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and comes at a time of rising tensions over Western support for the Ukrainian authorities.