BERLIN/KIEV/MOSKAU (dpa-AFX) – A collision between a US military drone and a Russian fighter jet in international airspace over the Black Sea on Tuesday sparked concern and fueled new tensions between the US and Russia. A good year after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Bundeswehr is in a miserable position. There is a lack of equipment, ammunition and weapons, said the Bundestag Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl. “Not a euro or a cent” has yet been spent from the much-praised 100 billion special fund. In eastern Ukraine, the Russian military again took the war inland, shelling the center of the town of Kramatorsk, some 20 kilometers west of the front lines.
Regarding the incident over the Black Sea, the US military said one of two Russian fighter jets involved in an intercept maneuver had hit the propeller of the US drone. US forces should have crashed the drone after the collision. The Americans complained that “unsafe and unprofessional” actions on the part of the Russian side caused the incident. The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied any responsibility in connection with the crash. The drone was neither shot at nor attacked in any other way. She crashed after a sharp evasive maneuver.