Pentagon Footage Shows Russia Was Lying, Su-27 Fighter Jet DID Make Contact With $32M US Reaper Drone

This is the shocking moment a Russian fighter jet crashes into a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea.

Drone camera footage displays the scary confrontation as an Su-27 jet comes from behind, clips its propeller and dumps fuel over it in international airspace on Tuesday.

US forces had to take down the $32million surveillance drone in international waters after the encounter, provoking a dash between Moscow and Washington to recoup it.

Russian ships were seen at the crash site on Wednesday attempting to detect the debris, after the Pentagon insisted parts could not be recovered and any intelligence had been erased.

According to US officials the MQ-9 Reaper drone was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 jets that dumped fuel on top of the drone before clipping its propeller, forcing it to crash.

The footage was disclosed on the back of a NBC News report that the ‘highest levels’ of the Kremlin signed off on the contentious behavior of the jets during the intercept.

The breathtaking 42-second clip released by the Pentagon follows Russian allegations its jet did not make contact with the drone, instead asserting the drone crashed on its own after ‘sharp maneuvering’.

Moscow also said it would work to recover the wreckage in what would be a propaganda coup for Vladimir Putin, after earlier warning that it will ‘consider any action with US weaponry as openly hostile’.

This is the first direct confrontation between Russia and the US since the start of the war in Ukraine, and comes hours after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Russian counterpart, calling the encounter ‘provocative in nature’ and saying it risked escalating the situation around the Black Sea.

The newly-declassified clip presented today shows the unmanned drone come into contact with a Russian jet after flying ‘in the vicinity’ of the aircraft for 30 to 40 minutes just after 7am CET (6am GMT) on Tuesday.

The subsequent video, edited by the US military for length, demonstrates one of two Russian jets flying over international waters pull up on the drone, coming from behind.

The jet is shown to dump fuel as it passes. Fuel dumping is typically used by aircraft in emergency circumstances to lose weight.

The drone’s camera suffers damage before it is compelled to make an emergency landing in international waters below.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby slammed Russia’s actions as reckless and dangerous.

The $32million US Reaper drone taken out of the sky by Russia

But the Russian defence ministry pushed back, saying in a statement, ‘Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons and did not come into contact with the American drone.

‘Due to sharp manoeuvring, the American drone went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface.’

Mr Kirby asserted on Tuesday that the State Department would address ‘concerns over this unsafe and unprofessional intercept’ with their Russian counterparts.