19:52
Milley: “Military secrets in the drone? No longer available”
“We still don’t know if it was intentional.” Thus General Mark Milley, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the collision between the Russian jet and the American drone over the Black Sea. “However, the interception was intentional,” he added. As for the military secrets contained in the drone that could end up in Russian hands, Milley assured that “measures have been taken to mitigate” the damage and “whatever was available is now no longer available”. In fact, the US has remotely deleted the device’s software.
19:46
Austin confirms the call with Shoigu
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed a telephone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Shoigu. “As I have repeated several times, it is important that the great powers are a model of transparency and communication and the United States will continue to fly and operate wherever international laws permit,” the Pentagon chief said in a briefing, referring to the contents of the phone call.
19:24
Conversation between Russian and American defense ministers
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held telephone conversations with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin. This was reported by the Russian Defense Ministry, specifying that the talks took place on the initiative of the American side.
19:22
Lavrov: “Accident between nuclear powers involves very serious risks”
With incidents such as that of the US drone, “the United States seeks provocations to intensify its confrontational approaches”. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, underlining that “any accident that causes a clash between two nuclear powers always involves very serious risks. They cannot fail to understand this,” he said, accusing the US of “ignoring the flight restrictions” introduced with the war in some areas along the Black Sea. “Such provocative ignorance suggests that the American side is constantly looking for some sort of provocation to intensify their confrontational approaches,” he concluded.
19:19
Use: “Probably unintentional drone-fighter collision”
“I think the best assessment right now is that it probably wasn’t intentional. It was probably the result of a profound incompetence on the part of one of these Russian pilots”: thus the spokesman of the US state department Ned Price, in a television interview regarding the air clash between the American drone and the Moscow fighter over the black Sea.
19:18
The US cancels the software of the crashed drone
The United States has remotely deleted the software of the MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed yesterday in the Black Sea after colliding with a Russian fighter. He brings it back there Cnn citing two officials. The decision – it is explained – was taken to prevent Russia from collecting secret information should Moscow recover the remains of the aircraft.
16:25
Assad to Putin: “Support for ‘special operation'”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reiterated his support for Russia’s war in Ukraine in his Kremlin meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I want to take this opportunity, because it is my first visit (since the beginning of the war), and reiterate the Syrian position in support of the special operation”, said the Syrian president, as reported by RIA Novosti.
16:20
“Moscow has a plan to rule Moldova by 2030”
Moscow has developed a strategy to destabilize Moldova, take it under its political control and alienate it from Western partners by 2030, according to an internal strategy document from Putin’s presidential administration obtained by a consortium of media, including Suddeutsche Zeitung and Yahoo News. The text, drafted in 2021, comes from the same ‘Presidential Directorate for Cross-Border Cooperation’ which produced a similar strategy on Belarus. The ultimate goal by 2030 is the “creation of stable pro-Russian influence groups in Moldovan political and economic elites”.
15:22
Austin in Moscow: “We will not stop flying where it is allowed”
“This dangerous episode is part of a pattern of aggressive, risky and unsafe actions by Russian pilots in international airspace. Let me be clear, the United States will continue to fly and operate wherever international law permits. And it is up to Russia to use its military aircraft in a safe and professional way”: this is the warning issued by the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin at the opening of the tenth meeting of the contact group on Ukraine, commenting on the collision between a Russian jet and a US drone on the Black Sea.